LIBRARY 

UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION, 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 



Entry Catalogue Number 

73c<?6 

Class 




! 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 




NEUFELD IN CAPTIVITY. 



A PRISONER OF • • 
• • THE KHALEEFA 



twelve gears' Captivity at ©mtmrman 



3 



CHARLES NEUFELD 




FOURTH EDITION 



NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
LONDON : CHAPMAN & HALL, ld. 

T900 



I 



PRINTED BY 
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED. 
LONDON AND BECCLES. 



3y ft-andfe* 



o 

Bebtcatioit 

^ TO 

PUBLIC OPINION 



CHARLES NEUFELD 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 

PAGES 

The calumnies of critics— My female slave — Real object of my 
journey — Preliminary arrangements — General Stephenson's 
letter 1-7 



CHAPTER I 

I START FOR KORDOFAN 

Engagement of guides — A neglected warning — Hasseena accom- 
panies the party — Dervishes reported on the road — Non- 
arrival of Hogal — Dervishes sighted at Selima Wells . . 8-14 



CHAPTER II 

BETRAYED BY GUIDES 

Different routes over the desert — A quarrel amongst the guides — 
Scouts sent out — Hassan convicted of error — Zigzagging in the 
desert — A council of war — Surprised by the dervishes — The 
fight — Taken prisoners 15-28 



CHAPTER III 

IN THE HANDS OF THE DERVISHES 

Conference of the Emirs Farag and Hamza — Halt for the night — 
Baggage looted by dervishes — The Emirs confiscate all treasure 
for the Beit-el-Mal — Cross-questioned on my letters — Called a 
Government spy — Tortured by dervish guards — Rescued by 
Hamza and reserved for Wad en Nejoumi . . . 29-40 



viii 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER IV 

ARRIVAL IN DONGOLA 

PAGES 

Display of dervish horsemanship— Flogging among the Ansar— 
Hasseena is searched — Insults of the rabble — I am brought 
before Nejoumi — I declare myself a merchant — Evidence of a 
Christian girl-convert against me — Execution of fourteen Arabs 
of the party — I am re-examined and sent to the Khaleefa . 41-52 



CHAPTER V 

THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CAPTURE 

Extracts from newspaper and official accounts — The antecedents of 
the guide Gabou — Dissensions in the Kabbabish tribe — Gabou 
schemes for his own section — Hassan's part in the matter — 
Gabou reveals the plot to Nejoumi and enlists Hogal on his 
side — The Emirs prepare to intercept me — Capture of the 
caravan — Hogal's deceit and its excuse .... 53-63 



CHAPTER VI 

DONGOLA TO OMDURMAN 

Preparations for the journey — Nejoumi's friendly disposition to the 
Government — His loss of faith in the Mahdist movement — 
Why the guide Amin was executed— Horrible death of an old 
Arab woman — In the market-place of Omdurman — First meet- 
ing with Slatin — I am chained and tortured — I defy the 
Khaleefa — A mock execution — The Khaleefa is merciful — Slatin 
intervenes — Letter to Mankarious Effendi — Imprisoned by 
Slatin's advice . . • 64-79 



CHAPTER VII 

THROWN INTO PRISON 

Methods of shackling — My first night in prison — Hasseena sent to 
the head-gaoler's hareem — Mahmoud Wad Said— Ajjab Abou 
Jinn — The three sons of Awad el Kerim — Sheikh Hamad El 
Nil — Ahmed Abdel Maajid and his bride — Lessons in Mahdieh 
— I visit Khartoum in chains — Again before the Khaleefa— My 
chains removed . . , . . . .... 80-92 



CONTENTS 



ix 



CHAPTER VIII 

PRISON LIFE 

PAGES 

Prayers— Night in the Abou Hagar — Possibilities of escape — News 
from Egypt — Idris-es-Saier — His methods of extortion — A 
prison homily — Effectual blackmail 93-104 

CHAPTER IX 

MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE 

Ahmed Nur ed Din — His relations with Gabou — We plan an 
escape — Death of Nur ed Din — My sickness and recovery — 
Treatment of typhus — I decline to be converted — Meal-time in 
the Saier — Father Ohrwalder's charity — A famine — The 
struggle for food — Ministrations of Hasseena — Mutual help 
amongst the prisoners •. . 105-119 

CHAPTER X 

PRISON JUSTICE 

Escapes from the Saier — The advantages of matrimony — Tactics of 
the gaolers — I become doctor to the hareems — Discipline 
amongst women prisoners — My first flogging — The gaoler 
dismissed — Method of flogging — I am flogged again— My 
mental agony 120-133 

CHAPTER XI 

A SERIOUS DILEMMA 

Newspaper calumnies — Hasseena's condition — A disputed paternity 
— Mohammedan laws of marriage and divorce — I decide to 
claim the child — Idris disputes the claim — A jury of matrons 
decides in my favour — Birth of " Makkieh " — The Khaleefa's 
congratulations — Joseppi, the German baker . . . 134-144 

CHAPTER XII 

IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN 



Friendship with Wad Adlan— His directorship of the Beit-el-Mal — 
The Khaleefa grows jealous — Adlan thrown into prison — The 



X 



CONTENTS 



advantages of trading— Adlan reinstated — I design the Mahdi's 
tomb — Letters to Mankarious Effendi — The guide Moussa 
Daoud el Kanaga — Reports from Egypt — Escape of Joseppi — 
Treachery of spies — Disgrace and death of Adlan . . 145-159 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE 

Letters of the German Consul and my manager to Mankarious — 
Kanaga's visit to Cairo — He receives a letter to Slatin — He is 
captured at Berber and turns back — The War Office letter to 
my wife — My answer to calumnies 160-169 



CHAPTER XIV 

A PRISONER AT LARGE 

Belief in evil spirits — Shwybo as an alchemist — He is flogged for his 
pains — I am told to make saltpetre — Released from my fetters 
— The gunpowder factory at Halfeyeh — Death of Makkieh — I 
am transferred to Khartoum — Our gunpowder a deliberate 
failure — Visits of Father Ohrwalder — News of his escape . 170-184 



CHAPTER XV 

DIVORCED AND MARRIED 

Hasseena's thievish propensities — I am compelled to divorce her — 
The Khaleefa finds me a wife — I forestall his good offices — 
Umm es Shole — Mohammedan divorce and re-marriage — A 
further dilemma — The second child dies — Hasseena proves 
irreclaimable 185-194 



CHAPTER XVI 

HOPE AND DESPAIR 

Mankarious' first envoy returns — Arrival of second envoy — Rossig- 
noli's guide Abdallah — Projected method of escape — Abdallah's 
treatment of Rossignoli — Slatin escapes — My chains redoubled 
— The Khaleefa's fury — Slatin's reputation amongst the 
Mahdists — His letter read to the Muslimanieh — Confiscation of 
his wives and property — My deliverer returns — I am again in 
the Saier 195-208 



CONTENTS 



xi 



CHAPTER XVII 

A NEW OCCUPATION 

TAGES 

Nahoum Abbajee engages me — Emptiness of the treasury — Unsatis- 
factory state of the currency — I am transferred to the arsenal — 
I design blocks for the Mint — We do great damage — The 
Khaleefa's buried treasure 209-2 1 5 

CHAPTER XVIII 

MY SECOND IMPRISONMENT 

Idris a reformed character — He ensures my kind treatment — Fauzi's 
first night in prison — Kadi Ahmed's captivity — His death by 
starvation — Death of Wad Zarah — Letters from Europe — My 
replies — My reflections in prison 216-225 

CHAPTER XIX 

RUMOURS OF RELIEF 

Khartoum again— Thoughts of Gordon — At work in the arsenal- 
Extracting precious metals — Chemical experiments — The troops 
advancing — I invent a powder-mill — Its manifold defects — I 
scheme to gain time — Wholesale destruction of metal — Repair- 
ing a steamer — My letter to Onoor — In a fever for news . 226-241 

CHAPTER XX 

PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 

In the Saier as a visitor — I send intelligence to the English — Anxiety 
amongst my circle — Embassy from Abyssinia — The Khaleefa's 
reply — Mahmoud disobeys orders — Defeat of Osman and 
Mahmoud at the Atbara — Manufacture of torpedoes — I decline 
to assist — My chains redoubled — The torpedoes explode — I 
become a centre for Government sympathizers — Frustrating 
the mines 242-256 



CHAPTER XXI 

NEARING THE END 

Conflicting rumours — Appeals to prophecy — I suggest a night attack 
— I send more information to the army — Mad struggle with a 
gaoler — Negotiations with Idris — The Khaleefa sallies out — 
The gunboats open fire — I go mad — Arrival of fugitives — The 
riderless horse — The Khaleefa's despair .... 257-268 



xii 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XXII 

AT LAST 

PAGES 

Threats of the prisoners— The routed army in flight — Macdonald's 
brigade — Illuminating the Ratib — Soudanese sang-froid — 
Sheikh ed Din repulsed — Attack upon Macdonald — Destruction 
of Yacoub — Flight of the Khaleefa— His narrow escape from 
the Sirdar — The Sirdar enters the prison — We meet — The 
head-quarters' mess — Mr. Bennet Burleigh — My German tongue 
forsakes me 269-280 

CHAPTER XXIII 

THE SIRDAR AND SAVAGE WARFARE 

The looting of Omdurman — Soudanese troops to the rescue — Genial 
horseplay — A war correspondent's article — The Sirdar errs in 
giving quarter — Lex talionis — The ferocity of wounded dervishes 
— No succour desirable — A challenge to correspondents . 281-288 

CHAPTER XXIV 

BACK TO CIVILIZATION 

High hopes — Disillusionment— Attitude of the War Office — I am 
forced to defend myself— Newspaper calumnies — The News 
Agency representative — A good Samaritan — Sir George 
Newnes 289-299 

CHAPTER XXV 

HOW GORDON DIED 

Conflicting accounts — A hero's death — Hope deferred — Gordon's 
last night — Value of my testimony — Father Ohrwalder's 
evidence — " Ten Years' Captivity " criticized — Justification of 
Gordon— The trader as missionary — A tribute to Gordon . 300-324 

APPENDICES 



Appendix I. Hassan Bey Hassanein ..... 325-331 

II. Orphali 332-337 

„ III. Letter dictated by the Khaleefa to General 

Stephenson 338-339 

„ IV. Ibrahim Pasha Fauzi — Gordon's favourite 

officer 340-345 

„ V. Ahmed Youssef Kandeel 346-348 

„ VI. The Soudan : its Past, Present, and Future . 349~359 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO FACE PAGE 



i. Neufeld in Captivity Frontispiece 



2. 




8 


3- 


The Khaleefa's Eunuchs at Attention .... 


37^ 


4- 






5- 


Sheikh ed Din's Eunuch in his Master's Marriage- 






Ttp>p.t?tt 


64. * 


6. 


WUTTTNf; TTNDFR DtFFTPTTT TTFQ • 


1 / 


7 


A CVrDTTP C>V PrT^HNFT?^ 


84 ' 


Q 
O. 




94 


9- 




103* 


10. 




114* 


11. 


A Flogging by Order of the Khaleefa 


129^ 


12. 




143 v 


13. 






14. 




164 


IS- 




189* 


16. 




203 


17. 




2i8 v 


18. 


Neufeld's Hut in the Saier, showing the Famous Anvil 


223^ 


19. 




226 v 


20. 




236 ^ 


21. 


A Group— from Photograph taken at the Feast of 










22. 




252" 



» 



xiv 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



23. Shereef, the " False Fourth Khaleefa " 

24. The Flag of Khaleefa Shereef 

25. Trophies taken at Omdurman . 

26. Khaleel Agha Orphali . . . 

27. Hassan Bey Hassanein .... 

28. Fauzi Pasha in Uniform .... 

29. Ahmed Youssef Kandeel .... 

Map showing Proposed Route and Route actually 

taken by caravan 1 5 * 

Sketch accompanying Author's Account of Capture 23 * 

Plans of Palace at Khartoum illustrating the 

Death of Gordon 334^ 



TO FACE PAGE / 

. 263 V 

• *73 ' 

. 282^ 

• 303^ 

• 325^ 

• 340^ 
. 346^ 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 




Within seventy-two hours of my arrival in Cairo from 
the Soudan, I commenced to dictate my experiences 
for the present volume, and had dictated them from 
the time I left Egypt, in 1887, until I had reached the 
incidents connected with my arrival at Omdurman as 
the Khaleefa's captive, when I became the recipient 
of a veritable sheaf of press-cuttings, extracts, letters, 
private and official, new and old, which collection was 
still further added to on the arrival of my wife in 
Egypt, on October 13. 

My first feelings after reading the bulk of these, 
and when the sensation of walking about free and 
unshackled had worn off a little, was that I had but 
escaped the savage barbarism of the Soudan to 
become the victim of the refined cruelty of civilization. 
Fortunately, maybe, my rapid change from chains 
and starvation to freedom and the luxuries I mieht 
allow myself to indulge in, brought about its inevi- 
table result — a reaction, and then collapse. While 
ill in bed I could, when the delirium of fever had left 




INTRODUCTION 



B 



2 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



me, and I was no longer struggling for breath and 
standing room in that Black Hole of Omdurman, the 
Saier, find it in my heart to forgive my critics, and 
say, " I might have said the same of them, had they 
been in my place and I in theirs." But the inaccura- 
cies written and published in respect to my nationality, 
biography, and, above all, the astounding inaccuracies 
published in connection with my capture and the cir- 
cumstances attending it, necessitate my offering a few 
words to my readers by way of introduction ; but I 
shall be as brief and concise as possible. 

I have, both directly and indirectly, been blamed 
for, or accused of, the loss of arms, ammunition, and 
monies sent by the Government to the loyal Sheikh 
of the Kabbabish, Saleh Bey Wad Salem. Some 
have gone so far as to accuse me of betraying the 
party I accompanied into the hands of the dervishes ; 
a betrayal which led eventually to the virtual extermi- 
nation of the tribe and the death of its brave chief. 
The betrayal of the caravan I accompanied did lead to 
this result ; it also led me into chains and slavery. 

According to one account, I arrived at Omdurman 
on the i st or 7th of March (both dates are given in 
the same book), 1887; yet, at this time, to the best 
of my recollection, the General commanding the Army 
of Occupation in Egypt, General Stephenson, was 
trying in Cairo to persuade me to abandon my pro- 
jected journey into Kordofan. In a very recent 
publication, in the preface to which the authors ask 
their readers to point out any inaccuracies, I am 
credited with arriving as a captive at Omdurman in 



INTRODUCTION 



3 



1885, when at this time I was attached as interpreter 
to the Gordon Relief Expedition, and stood within 
a few yards of General Earle at the battle of Kirbekan 
when he was killed. It is probable I was the last 
man he ever spoke to. 

The guide and spy who reported my capture and 
death on the 13th or 14th of April, 1887, only reported 
what he thought had actually happened, as a possible 
result of arrangements he had made ; while the 
refugee Wakih Idris, who reported in August, 1890, 
that I was conducting a large drapery establishment in 
Omdurman, must have been a Soudanese humorist, and, 
doubtless, hugely amused at his tale being believed in 
the face of the Mahdi's and Khaleefa's crusade against 
finery and luxuries (although the tenets may have 
stopped short at the entrance to their hareems), and 
when every one, from the highest to the lowest, had 
to wear the roughest and commonest of woven 
material. A drapery establishment is generally asso- 
ciated with fine clothing, silks, ribbons, and laces ; in 
Omdurman, such an establishment, if opened, would 
have been consigned to the flames, or the Beit el Mai, 
and its proprietor to the Saier (prison). 

Yet again, when I am more heavily weighted with 
chains, and my gaoler, to evidence his detestation of 
the Kaffir (unbeliever) entrusted to his charge, goes 
out of his way to invent an excuse for giving me the 
lash, I am reported as being at liberty, my release 
having been granted on the representations of some 
imaginary Emir, who claimed it on the ground that 
I had arranged the betrayal of Sheikh Salens caravan. 



4 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



There is one subject I must touch upon, a subject 
which has made the life of my wife as much of 
a hell upon earth during my captivity, as that captivity 
was to me ; and a subject which has caused the most 
poignant grief and pain to my near relatives. I refer 
to my Abyssinian female servant Hasseena. The 
mere fact of her accompanying the caravan opened up 
a quarry for quidnuncs to delve in, and they delved 
for twelve long years. It is needless to dilate upon 
the subject here ; suffice it to say that if, when my 
critics have read through my plain narrative, they 
have conscience enough left to admit to themselves 
that they have more injured a woman than the 
helpless, and in this particular connection, ignorant 
captive, who has returned to life to confront them, 
and if they try in future to be as charitable to their 
own flesh and blood as some of the savage fanatics 
were to me in the Soudan, I shall rest content. 

My narrative, and here I wish to say that it is 
presented as I first dictated it, notwithstanding my 
being confronted with, as it was put to me, " contra- 
dictions " based upon official and semi-official records 
and reports, may be depended upon as being as 
correct a record as memory can be expected to give 
of the events of my twelve years' existence, from All 
Fools' Day, 1887, when, in spite of all warnings, I rode 
away from life and civilization to barbarism and slavery. 

At the beginning of 1887, Hogal Dufaallah, a 
brother of Elias Pasha, a former Governor of Kordofan, 
came to me at Assouan and suggested my accompany- 
ing him to Kordofan, where large quantities of gum 



INTRODUCTION 



5 



were lying awaiting a favourable opportunity to be 
brought down, he possessing a thousand cantars 
(cwts.). The owners of the gum were afraid to bring 
it to the Egyptian frontier, believing that the Govern- 
ment would confiscate it. Hogal was of opinion that 
if I accompanied him, we should be able to induce the 
people to organize a series of caravans for the trans- 
port of the gum, he and I signing contracts to buy 
it on arrival at Wadi Haifa, and guaranteeing the 
owners against confiscation by the Government. 
Letters and messages, he said, would be of no avail ; 
the people would believe they were traps set for them 
by the Government, and it was out of the question 
for us to attempt to take with us the large amount of 
money required to purchase the gum on the spot. 
I being looked upon as an Englishman, and an 
Englishman's word being then considered as good as 
his bond, Hogal was sure of a successful journey ; so 
it was finally agreed that Hogal and I should make 
up a small caravan, and get away as early as possible. 
At this time, February, 1887, the loyal sheikh, Saleh 
Bey Wad Salem, of the Kabbabish tribe, was holding 
his own against the Mahdists, and had succeeded 
in keeping open the caravan routes of the Western 
Soudan. 

Hogal and I came to Cairo to make various busi- 
ness arrangements, and while here I called upon 
General Stephenson and Colonel Ardagh, and asked 
permission to proceed. They tried to persuade me 
to abandon what appeared to them a very risky 
expedition ; but, telling them that I was bent upon 



6 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



undertaking it, permission or not, I was asked if I 
would mind delivering some letters to Sheikh Saleh, 
as a visit to him was necessary to procure guides for 
the later stages of the journey. I was also to inform 
him verbally that his request for arms and ammu- 
nition had been granted ; that he should send men at 
once to Wadi Haifa to receive them ; and that a 
number of messages to this effect had already been 
sent him. General Stephenson evidently gave the 
matter further consideration, for, on calling for the 
letters, they were not forthcoming. He said he 
would write to me to Assouan ; but, he continued, 
he would be glad if I would encourage Saleh, or 
any of the loyal sheikhs I met, to continue to harass 
the dervishes, and let him have what information I 
could on my return respecting the country and the 
people. 

The precise circumstances under which I received 
his letter I have forgotten, but my former business 
manager tells me that, one evening at Assouan, 
he found lying on the desk an official envelope, 
unaddressed, opened it, and was still reading the 
letter it contained when I walked in, and exhibited 
great annoyance at his having seen it. This was the 
letter from General Stephenson to me, referred to by 
Slatin and Ohrwalder. I remember it but as a sort 
of private communication, not in any way official ; and 
I think it well at an early moment to state so, as it 
has been borne in upon me that there is an impression 
in certain quarters that I might, on the strength of 
references made to it in Father Ohrwalder's and Slatin 



INTRODUCTION 



7 



Pasha's books, make some claim against the British 
Government, and I consider it advisable to say at 
once that no such idea ever occurred to me. 

Completing our arrangements in Cairo, Hogal and 
I started south, Hogal going to Derawi to buy camels 
for the journey to Kordofan, and I going to Assouan 
and Wadi Haifa to make final arrangements and 
prepare food for the desert journey. 



CHAPTER I 



I START FOR KORDOFAN 

Before leaving Assouan for Cairo, I had made an agree- 
ment with Hassibel Gabou, of the Dar Hamad section 
of the Kabbabish tribe, and Ali el Amin, fromWadi el 
Kab, to act as guides for us as far as Gebel Ain, where 
we hoped to find Sheikh Saleh. Gabou was in the 
employ of the military authorities as spy, receiving a 
monthly gratuity or pay. He and Ali el Amin were 
each to receive three hundred dollars for the journey, 
a hundred and fifty dollars each to be paid in 
advance, and the remainder at the end of the journey. 
On arrival at Gebel Ain, they were to arrange for 
guides for us from amongst Saleh's men. The route 
we had chosen is shown on the accompanying plan, 
taken from a map published by Kauffmann, a copy of 
which I had with me, and another copy of which I 
have been fortunate enough to find since my return. 

On arriving at Derawi, Hogal set about at once 
buying camels. Our party was to consist of Hogal, 
Hassib el Gabou, Ali el Amin, my Arabic clerk Elias, 
my female servant Hasseena, myself, and four men 
whom Hogal was to engage, to bring up our party to 




AN ARAB GUIDE. 



/ START FOR KORDOFAN 



9 



ten people, so that we might be prepared to deal with 
any small band of marauding dervishes. Hogal was 
to purchase camels from the Ababdeh, who possessed, 
and probably still do, the best camels for the descrip- 
tion of journey we were undertaking. He was to take 
them into the desert to test their powers of endurance, 
as, from the route chosen, they might have to travel 
fifteen days without water. He was also to purchase 
extra camels to carry water, so that if the necessity 
arose, we could strike further west into the desert than 
arranged for, and be able to keep away from the wells 
for thirty days. We were to take with us only such 
articles as were essential for the journey ; food, arms 
and ammunition, three hundred dollars in cash, and 
our presents of watches, silks, jewellery, pipes, and 
ornaments for the sheikhs we met. 

Hogal was to leave Derawi on or about the 20th 
March, and bringing the camels through the desert on 
the west of the Nile, was so to time his last stage as 
to reach Wadi Haifa at sunset on the 26th or 27th. 
The guides, my clerk, servant, and myself were to slip 
over by boat, and our caravan was to strike off west at 
once. Our departure was to be kept as secret as 
possible. 

On my reaching Shellal after leaving Hogal at 
Derawi, I was overtaken by an old friend, Mohammad 
Abdel Gader Gemmareeyeh, who, having learned in 
confidence from Hogal the reason for his purchasing 
the camels, hurried after me to warn me against 
employing Gabou as guide, as he knew the man was 
not to be trusted. He told me that Gabou was acting 



to A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

as spy for friend and foe, and was being paid by both, 
but this I did not then credit. I laughed at the man's 
expressed fears, and telling him that as Hogal and I 
were to direct the caravan, and Gabou was to ac- 
company us as guide, I had no intention of abandoning 
a journey, at the end of which a small fortune awaited 
me. I knew very well that not a single person was to 
be trusted out of sight and hearing, but as there was 
no reason why Gabou should not be kept within both, 
there was equally no reason why I should have any 
fears. Besides this, I was vain enough to believe that 
perhaps I might, as a result of my journey, be able 
to hand to the military authorities a report of some 
value, and the halo of romance, which still hung over 
everything Soudanese, was in itself no little attraction. 

I reached Wadi Haifa about March 23, and set 
to work quietly with final arrangements. Hasseena 
had elected to accompany us, and this on the sug- 
gestion of Hogal, his reasons being first, that being 
accompanied by a woman, the peaceful intentions 
of our little caravan would be evidenced ; secondly, 
that Hasseena, when the slave of her old master of 
the Alighat Arabs, had on a number of occasions made 
the journey between El Obeid, Dongola, and Derawi, 
and would be of great use to us in hareems in very 
much the same way that a lady in civilized countries, 
having an entrde to a salon, is occasionally able to 
further the interests of her male relatives or friends ; 
and in the East, all women have the entrie to 
hareems. 

The morning after my arrival at Wadi Haifa I 



/ START FOR KORDOFAN 



ii 



heard that forty of Sheikh Saleh's men, led by one of 
his slaves, Ismail, had already arrived to take over the 
arms and ammunition. Gabou came to me the same 
day, and suggested our abandoning the proposed 
expedition, as he was afraid that the dervishes might 
hear of Saleh's men coming in, and send out bands to 
intercept the caravan on its return, and we might fall 
into the hands of one of them. Believing that Gabou 
was simply trying to induce me to add to his remune- 
ration for the extra risks, I told him I should hold him 
to his agreement. A day or two later, seeing that I was 
determined to go on, he suggested that we should, for 
safety, accompany Saleh's men, but this I objected to. 
The Kabbabish were righting the dervishes, and lost 
no opportunity of pouncing down upon any small 
bands, and I had no particular wish to look for more 
adventures than my expedition itself was likely to pro- 
vide. There was also the question of time ; Sheikh 
Saleh's baggage camels would only move at the rate of 
about a mile an hour, while ours would cover two and 
a half to three miles easily. 

On March 24, I received a telegram from Hogal, 
then at Assouan, announcing his arrival there with 
the camels, and his intention to come on at once, 
so that he should have reached Wadi Haifa on the 
28th or 29th of the month. Gabou now exhibited 
particular anxiety that we should join Saleh's party, 
and took upon himself to make an arrangement with 
them. On my remonstrating with him, he said that if 
the dervishes were on the road, they would certainly be 
met with between Wadi Haifa and the Selima Wells, 



i2 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

or, maybe, at the wells themselves, and this was the 
only part of our route where there was any likelihood 
of our coming in contact with them, our road, after 
Selima, being well to the west. (< Now," said he, "if 
Saleh's caravan goes off, and the dervishes on the road 
are not strong enough to attack, they will allow the 
caravan to pass, but wait about the roads either in the 
hope of getting reinforcements in time to attack, or 
with the hope of attacking any smaller parties." He 
believed the dervishes might go on to the wells, and 
encamp there, so that in either case we should fall into 
their clutches. It was Gabou's opinion that Sheikh 
Saleh's caravan was strong enough to annihilate the 
dervish bands, which he now said he had heard were 
actually on the road. This decided me. I asked him 
why he had not told me of this before. He had for- 
gotten to do so ! 

The 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st of the month passed, 
and still no appearance of Hogal and the camels. 
Ismail was impatient to be off, and Gabou suggested, 
that as my camels must be close at hand, Hasseena, 
Elias, El Amin and I should start with Saleh's 
caravan, he following us as soon as our camels arrived. 
My camels being in good condition, and unloaded, 
would, he said, overtake the caravan in a few hours, 
and he was very anxious to test them for trotting 
speed while overtaking us. We were joined at Wadi 
Haifa by about twenty Arabs of different tribes, 
bringing our caravan up to sixty-four men and about 
a hundred and sixty camels. Gabou gave us as 
guide for Selima, a man named Hassan, also of the 



/ START FOR KORDOFAN 



n 



Dar Hamads. Crossing to the western bank of the 
Nile early on the morning of April i, 1887, by ten 
o'clock we had loaded up and started on that journey to 
the Soudan, which was to take me twelve long years 
to complete. 

When we had been two days on the road, I began 
to feel a little uneasy at the non-appearance of my 
camels ; but thinking that maybe Gabou had purposely 
delayed starting so as to give them a stiff test in hard 
trotting, I comforted myself with this reflection, though 
as day after day passed, my anxiety became very real. 
On the night of April 7, we judged we must 
be close to Selima Wells, and sent out scouts to 
reconnoitre ; they reached the wells, and returned 
saying that they could not find traces of any one 
having been there for some time. Our caravan 
reached the wells between nine and ten o'clock in the 
morning, and about midday, while we were occupied 
in watering the camels and preparing food, we heard a 
shot fired from the south-east, and shortly afterwards 
one of our scouts came in saying that he had been 
sighted by a party of about twenty men on camels ; 
one of the men had fired at him at long range, and the 
whole party had then hurried off to the south. 

A hurried conference was held ; it was the general 
opinion that this party must be scouts of a larger one, 
and that they had gone off for the purpose of apprising 
their main body. Ismail decided upon pushing on at 
once. There was little time for me to consider what 
to do ; to return to Wadi Haifa was out of the 
question, as Ismail could not spare any of his men as a 



14 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



bodyguard ; to wait at the wells was not to be thought 
of, and the only other alternative was to go on with 
the caravan. I told Elias to write out short notes for 
Hogal and Gabou, which I had intended to leave at 
the wells ; but as Ismail pointed out, I should have to 
leave them conspicuously marked in some way to 
attract attention, and, if the dervishes got to the wells 
first, or if those we had seen returned with others, they 
would be the first to get the notes, which would 
endanger our caravan, and the little party I was so 
anxiously expecting. There was nothing for it but to 
go on and hope for the best. If the worst came to the 
worst, it meant only that my gum expedition was 
temporarily delayed, and that I should, after reaching 
Sheikh Saleh, take my first opportunity of getting 
north again. 



r 




To face page 15. 



CHAPTER II 



BETRAYED BY GUIDES 



There are five caravan routes running from Selima 
Wells — that furthest west leading- to El Kiyeh, the 
next to El Agia, and the one in the centre leading to 
the Nile near Hannak, with a branch running to Wadi 
el Kab. Our objective being to meet Sheikh Saleh 
at Gebel Ain, we should have taken the route leading 
to El Agia, and this we had selected, because, as it was 
well out in the desert, there was little likelihood of our 
encountering any roving bands of dervish robbers. 
When we had been on the road a few hours, I 
ventured the opinion that we had taken the wrong 
route, and a halt was called while I examined the map 
I had with me, after which examination I felt certain 
that we were marching in the wrong direction. The 
guide Hassan was equally certain that we were on the 
El Agia road. A discussion ensued, which was ended 
by Hassan telling me, with what he intended to be 
withering sarcasm, " I never walked on paper" (mean- 
ing the map) ; " I have always walked on the desert. 
I am the guide, and I am responsible. The road you 
want us to go by leads to El Etroun (Natron district), 



1 6 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

sixty marches distant ; if we take your road and we 
all die of thirst in the desert, I should be held re- 
sponsible for the loss of the lives, and your paper 
could not speak to defend me." Hassan's dramatic 
description of the scene of his being blamed by the 
Prophet for losing these valuable lives if he trusted to 
a " paper," had more to do with his gaining his point 
than pure conviction as to whether we were on the 
right road or not. From El Agia, as Saleh's men 
said, they v knsw every stone on the desert, but in this 
..patifrtffey had to trust to Hassan. 

During the whole of this first day we forced the 
baggage camels on at their best pace, travelling by 
my compass in a south and south-easterly direction. 
The arrangement I had made with Gabou for my 
own caravan, which arrangement Ismail had agreed 
to when Gabou suggested our travelling with them, 
was that we should travel a little to the west of 
the El Agia camel tracks, but keep parallel to 
them. When we halted that night I spoke to Ismail 
about this, and asked him to keep to this part of 
the agreement — that is to say, to travel parallel to, 
and not on, the track. Hassan objected, as it meant 
slower travelling. Still pressing on after a short rest, 
Hassan zigzagged the caravan over stony ground with 
the object of losing our trail, as our caravan, consisting 
of about 1 60 camels, was an easy one to track up. 

We travelled fast until mid-day of the 10th, when 
we were obliged to take a rest owing to the 
extreme heat. We were in an arid waste; not the 
slightest sign of vegetation or anything living but 



BETRAYED BY GUIDES 



i7 



ourselves to be seen anywhere. Off again at sunset, 
we travelled the whole night through, my compass at 
midnight showing me that we were, if anything, 
travelling towards the east, when our direction should 
certainly have been south-west. At our next halt I 
spoke to Ismail again, but Hassan convinced him of 
his infallibility in desert routes. The following morn- 
ing, the nth, there was no disguising the fact about 
our direction : the regular guides travel by the stars 
at night-time, but they laugh at the little niceties 
between the cardinal points, as Hassan laughed at me 
when I tried to get him to believe in the sand diagram 
I showed him, with the object of proving to him that 
a divergence increases the further you get away from 
the starting-point. El Amin now joined me in saying 
that he thought we were on the wrong road, but 
Hassan was prepared. He had, he said, during the 
night, led us further into the desert to again break 
our trail, and that he was now leading us to the 
regular road. El Amin replied that it was his 
opinion that Hassan had lost the road in the night, 
and now was trying to find it. This led to a lively 
discussion and an exchange of compliments, which 
almost ended in a nasty scuffle, as some were siding 
with Hassan and others with El Amin. 

Acting upon my advice, men were sent out east and 
west to pick up the regular caravan route. Hassan 
declared that a branch of the regular road would be 
found to the east, Amin and I declared for the west. 
Hassan took two men east, and Amin, accompanied by 
two others, went west. About an hour after sunset 

c 



1 3 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



both parties returned. El Amin arrived first, and 
reported that they had failed to find any trace of the 
road. Hassan came shortly afterwards, and, having 
heard before reaching Ismail of the failure of the 
others, came up to us jubilant and triumphant, as a 
road had been picked up where he said it would. 
They had not only picked up the road, but had come 
to the resting-place of a caravan of fifteen to twenty 
camels, which could only be a few hours ahead of us, 
as the embers of the caravan's fire places were still hot. 
I judged it best to be silent on the subject of the 
route now, though Amin, jibed and scoffed at by the 
victorious Hassan, was loud in his declarations that we 
were on the wrong route, and that Hassan had lost 
his way ; this nearly led to trouble again between him 
and the two men who had accompanied Hassan, as 
they considered their word doubted. 

We travelled east during the night, and crossed the 
road which Hassan had, during the day, picked up. 
But there was a feeling of uncertainty and unrest in 
the caravan. One after another appealed to me, and 
I could but say that I was still convinced my " paper " 
was right and Hassan wrong. El Amin, pricked to 
the quick, spread through the caravan his opinion 
that Hassan had not lost his way, but was deliberately 
leading us in the wrong- direction. When we halted 

O <—> 

on the 1 2th, Ismail, noticing the gossiping going on, 
and the manner of his men, decided upon sending out 
scouts to the east to see if they could pick up anything 
at all in the way of landmarks. El Amin joined the 
scouts, who were absent the whole day. They 



V 



BETRAYED BY GUIDES 19 

returned at night with the news that we were nearer 
the river than El Agia Wells, and on this, our fourth day 
from Selima, we should have been close to El Agia. 
This report, coming not from El Amin only, but from 
Saleh's own people who knew the district, created 
consternation. Again the " paper " was called for, 
and on this occasion Hassan was told that the paper 
knew better than he did. 

That night scene of betrayed men, desperate, 
with death from thirst or dervish swords a certainty, 
can be better imagined than described. There had 
been no husbanding of the drinking-water, and it 
was almost out ; many, in the hurry of departure 
from Selima, had not filled their water-skins. There 
was no doubt now that we were, as I had said from 
the beginning, on the road to Wadi el Kab, and 
travelling in the enemy's country. But Hassan, 
threatened as he was, had still one more card to play. 
He acknowledged that he had lost his way, but said 
this was not altogether his fault ; we, he said, had 
been travelling hard, and, feeling sure he was on the 
right track, he had been careless, or had neglected to 
look out for the usual marks, and that this was 
because Amin and I had annoyed him at the begin- 
ning of the march, as to the road. He now said 
that we were well to the west of El Kab, and on 
its extreme limits where the wady disappeared into 
desert water could be found, and being so far west, it 
was most improbable that we should find any dervishes 
there. Another council was held. Hassan was for 
continuing in an easterly direction ; I proposed west, 



20 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



believing now that the wady would be found to the 
west; while Ismail, advised by Amin, elected for a 
southerly direction. At last it was agreed that Ismail, 
Hassan, and some men should ride hard in a south- 
westerly direction, in the hopes of picking up some 
branch caravan route leading to El Agia. The re- 
mainder of the caravan, with myself and Amin, were 
to travel easily in a southerly direction for five hours, 
and then halt and await the return to us of Ismail. 

We halted between three and four in the afternoon, 
but no sooner had we done so, when a heavy sand- 
storm burst upon us. There are varieties of sand- 
storms as there are of most other things, but this was 
one of the worst varieties. The air becomes thick 
with the finest particles, which gives one more the 
idea of a yellow fog in the north than of anything else 
I might liken it to. We were obliged to wrap our 
own and the camels' heads in cloths and blankets to 
protect ourselves, if not from suffocation, from some- 
thing very near it. The storm lasted until after 
sunset, and as it must have obliterated all traces of 
our tracks, scouts were sent out to sight Ismail. Up 
till midnight no signs of him were forthcoming. 
Breaking up what camel saddles we could spare, we 
lit fires to attract his attention to our position, and as 
these burned low, shots were fired at intervals of five 
minutes. After ten or twelve shots had been fired, I 
recommended that volleys of five should be fired at the 
same intervals, and when I believe six had been fired, 
we heard Ismail calling to us from the darkness. He 
had encountered the sandstorm, but evidently had had 



BETRAYED BY GUIDES 



2 I 



a worse time of it than we had. He had heard our 
volleys, and had replied with single shots, but these 
we had not heard. 

On reaching the caravan, Ismail ordered the fires to 
be put out, and the camels to be at once loaded and 
their fastenings well looked to. The rifles were cleared 
of the sand which had accumulated on them, and 
Ismail went round inspecting everything for himself. 
I called him aside and asked him what he had dis- 
covered. He whispered one word, " Treachery," and 
returned to his inspection of the animals. When he 
had satisfied himself of the arms being in readiness, 
and the cases so secured that if the camels bolted they 
would not be able to throw off their load very easily, 
he gave the orders to march. Ignoring Hassan com- 
pletely, he led us west, sending out as scouts, on fast 
camels, Darb es Safai and El Amin, my guide ; but at 
sunrise they came back to us, saying that not a trace 
of road could be found. 

I cannot weary my readers with a day-to-day record 
of our zigzagging in the desert — one day Hassan in 
the ascendant as guide, another day El Amin, and 
from this time I cannot pretend to remember the 
exact day on which particular incidents happened. 
There were too many incidents to attempt a complete 
record, even with a diary, had I kept one. 

El Amin had confided to me and Ismail his firm 
conviction that Hassan was doing all this purposely, 
and that he knew precisely whereabouts we were, as 
he had noticed him making some sort of calculations, 
and drawing lines with his camel-stick in the sand. 



22 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Perhaps it was because I did not wish to, that I 
could not credit the implied treachery. Gabou and 
Hassan belonged to the Kabbabish tribe, and as the 
rifles and ammunition we were carrying were to assist 
Sheikh Saleh to fight the common enemy, what object 
could there be in betraying us ? Saleh's men would 
certainly fight to the death ; betrayer and betrayed 
would run equal risks of being killed — indeed, the 
betrayer would almost certainly be killed instantly by 
those he was leading. I therefore dismissed the idea 
from my head, took it for granted that the man had 
actually lost his way, and declined to fall in with 
El Amin's suggestion to say " good-bye " to the 
caravan, make straight for the Nile, and take our 
chances of passing clear as merchants, should we 
meet any people on the road. 

On, I believe, our sixth day out from Selirna, we 
crossed a caravan route running east and west, and, 
referring to my map, I had no hesitation in telling 
Ismail that this must be the caravan route between 
El Kab and El Agia, but on which part of the road 
we were I could not imagine. I wanted to attempt 
travelling along this road, but Hassan declared it led 
to El Kiyeh. That we must now be close to Wadi 
el Kab, every one knew. A " council of war " was 
held, at which it was decided to risk going on, as we 
must be travelling towards the wells on the extreme 
edge of the wady. We were to try and pick up the 
wells, water the camels, fill our skins, and then strike 
direct west and encamp at night-time, not to remain near 
the wells. While we were discussing the situation, some 



A 



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, hearing Jirsl shat 



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outflow A 




BETRAYED BY GUIDES 



23 



men had been sent along the road to try and discover 
anything in the way of marks or tracks which would 
give an idea as to our exact position, and they reported 
that there could be little doubt of this being El Kiyeh 
road, and that El Kiyeh must be six days distant. 
This news decided us. Our water-supply was out. 
A six days' march over that desert under such con- 
ditions meant perishing of thirst, and there was, again, 
the uncertainty as to whether we should be, after all, 
on the road to El Kiyeh or El Etroun. 

One of the camels was ailing, so it was decided to kill 
it, and let the men have a good meal of meat. Early 
the next day, I believe our eighth or ninth day from 
Selima, an Alighat Arab was sent scouting to the 
west ; he never returned. We halted and waited for 
4iis return as arranged, and lost the nights travel in 
consequence. On the following day, unmistakable 
landmarks were picked up, which proved that we were 
but a few hours distant from the Wadi el Kab, and it 
was believed we could reach the wells by sunset. 
Unloading the camels, and leaving four men in charge 
of the baggage, we started off for the wells, expect- 
ing to return the same night. We travelled without 
incident until about two o'clock in the afternoon, when 
we reached the broken ground skirting the wady 
proper. My guide, El Amin, and two men, had been 
sent on ahead to reconnoitre. The place is dotted 
with sand-dunes and hillocks from fifty to a hundred 
feet high, and on nearing the first hillock, and when 
approximately at "A," we heard a shot fired. El 
Amin and his companions had then reached the spot 



24 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



marked " G " on the accompanying plan ; we believed 
the shot to be a signal that they had found water, and 
pressed on until we reached " B," when shot after shot 
was fired, the bullets whistling over our heads. At 
this moment we saw Amin and his companions hurry- 
ing back to us. Next came some broken volleys, but 
all the shots were high. Up to now we had not seen 
our assailants, but the smoke from the rifles now dis- 
covered their whereabouts — the hillock marked " C." 

I was slightly ahead of the main body, with Hassan, 
the guide, some yards away on my right. Being 
mounted on a large white camel, well caparisoned, 
and wearing a bright silk Kofeyeh on my *head, I 
offered an excellent mark, and shot after shot whistled 
over me. I was turning my camel round to hurry 
back to the main body, when I saw Hassan fall to the 
ground. Calling to my clerk Elias, who was nearest 
to him, to help him back on the camel, or make the 
camel kneel to cover him, I tried to get mine to kneel 
so that I could dismount, but the brute was startled 
and restive. Elias called out that Hassan was 
" mayat khaalass " (stone dead). Our men were now 
quickly dismounting and loading their rifles. Bullet 
after bullet and volley after volley came, but no one 
was struck as yet except Hassan. Making the 
camels kneel, as a precaution against their bolting, 
we advanced in open order towards the hillock from 
whence the shots came, I on the extreme left, Ismail 
in the centre, and Darb es Safai on the right. Round- 
ing the hillock " C," we caught the first glimpse of the 
enemy, about fifty strong, and then rapidly retiring. 



BETRAYED B\ GUIDES 



25 



We fired a volley into them, on which they turned and 
replied, and a pretty hot fusilade was kept up for 
some minutes, but the firing was wild on both sides. 
I saw two of our men fall, and about eight to ten of 
the dervishes. Picking up their dead or wounded, 
they hurried off again, leaving two camels behind. 
Darb es Safai, who was leading the right, and was 
now well in advance, was the first to reach the 
camels, and discovered that they were loaded with filled 
water-skins. Calling out, " Moyia lil atshan ; * Allah 
kereem!" ("Water for the thirsty; God is generous!"), 
he commenced to unfasten the neck of one of the 
skins. A mad rush was made for the water ; arms 
were thrown down, and the men struggled around the 
camels for a drink. I tried for a few seconds, when 
I reached them, to counsel moderation, knowing the 
effect of a copious draught on the system under the 
circumstances and condition they were in. Some of 
the men had been three days without water, and the 
camel flesh they had eaten had not improved matters. 

While the struggle was still in progress, Hasseena, 
who with Elias had followed us up, ran to me saying 
that the dervishes were returning, and, looking in the 
direction of " E," I saw about a hundred and fifty men 
advancing at a rapid pace. I raised the alarm, and 
Ismail gave the call to arms ; but few heard his voice 
in the din. Those few fired a few shots, but it was now 
too late ; in a moment the dervishes were upon us, 
friend and foe one struggling mass. Above the noise 
could be heard the voice of the dervish leader reminding 

* Moyia lil atshan. 
(Water for the thirsty.) 



26 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



his men of some orders they had received, and to 
"secure their men alive." Even in that moment it 
flashed upon me that we had been led into an ambush, 
else why the reference to " our master's orders " given 
by their leader ? Elias, Hasseena, and I ran towards 
" F " to take cover ; it was no use my using my fowl- 
ing-piece on that struggling mass, as I should have 
struck friend and foe. Just as we reached the base of 
the hillock, Elias was captured, and the five or six 
dervishes who had pursued us occupied themselves 
with examining the contents of the bag he was carry- 
ing — my three hundred dollars, jewellery, etc. They 
gave a mere glance towards me, and then moved off. 

Pushing a few stones together, I laid out my 
cartridges, reloaded my revolvers, and prepared to die 
fighting. Ismail, the leader of our caravan, had by some 
means managed to get clear of the mass, and, reaching 
my camel, mounted it and rode off, riding hard to the 
right of cc F." Seeing Hasseena and me, he called 
to us to try and secure camels and follow him up. 
Hasseena on this ran down the hillock ; I had not 
noticed her disappearance from the immediate vicinity 
of the hillock, as I was too much occupied hurriedly 
making my diminutive zareeba of stones. Glancing 
over the stones later, I was astonished to see her 
walking at the head of the dervishes who had secured 
Elias, they following in Indian file. Hasseena called 
out that I was given quarter, and that I was to stand 
up unarmed. This I refused to do, and as they kept 
advancing, I kept my gun pointed at them from 
between the stones. Hasseena again called out, 



BETRAYED BY GUIDES 



27 



saying that they had orders not to hurt me, in evidence 
of which they fired their rifles into the air, and then 
laid them on the sand. 

By this time I could see that our men were 
bound, and grouped together on the plain ; I left my 
cover, descended the hillock, and advanced to the 
dervishes, when I was saluted with yells and cries of 
"El Kaffir, El Kaffir" ("the unbeliever"). One, 
maybe more fanatical than the rest, after vituperating 
me, made a motion as if to strike at my head with his 
sword. Looking him in the eyes, I asked, " Is this 
the word of honour (meaning quarter) of your Prophet 
and master ; you liar, you son of a dog ? strike, unclean 
thing I" While, as is only to be expected, I was at 
that moment trembling with fear and excitement, I 
had lived too long in the East to forget that a bold 
front and fearless manner command respect, if not 
fear. My words and manner had the desired effect, 
for one, turning to my would-be assailant, asked, 
" What are you doing ? Have you forgotten our 
master's orders ? " This was the second time some- 
thing had been said about "orders." I put a few 
questions to my captors, but they declined to reply to 
them, saying that I could speak to the Emirs Hamza 
and Farag, and they hurried me towards them. The 
Emir, whom later I knew to be Farag, asked my 
name, and what I wanted in his country ; then, 
turning to his followers without waiting for a reply, 
called out, " This is the Pasha our master Wad en 
Nejoumi sent us to capture ; thanks be to God we 
have taken him unhurt." The latter remark was 



28 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



made as a reproof to the man who had threatened 
to strike me, as the incident had been reported, and 
also as a warning to the others. 

Taking me apart from the others, he continued, " I 
see you are thirsty ; " and, calling up one of his men, 
told him to pour some water over some hard dry 
bread, and, handing it to me, said smilingly, " Eat — it is 
not good for you to drink." I divined his meaning. 
Had our men not made that mad rush for the water, 
we might have had a very different tale to tell, and 
who knows if, had we won the day and reached Sheikh 
Saleh, the history of the Soudan for the past twelve 
years might not have read differently ? Mine would 
have done so. 



CHAPTER III 



IN THE HANDS OF THE DERVISHES 

I was handed over to two men, who were held 
responsible for my well-being ; Hasseena and Elias 
were placed together in the charge of others, and we 
were ordered to seat ourselves a little distance away. 
The dervishes had with them military tents which 
must have been taken at Khartoum, and one was soon 
pitched. Here the Emirs and principal men met to 
hold a conference and inquiry. Darb es Safai and 
others were taken up one by one, and the question 
put to them direct, " Where are the rifles and the 
cartridges ? " for no case had, of course, been brought 
on with us to the wells. They denied any knowledge 
of them ; then replied Farag, " We will find them for 
you, and show you how they are used." My turn 
came, and in reply to the usual question, I said that I 
knew nothing at all about them ; questioned still 
further, I admitted that I had seen a number of boxes, 
but I could not pretend to know what was inside of 
them. Asked then as to where they were, I said I 
could not tell — in the desert somewhere ; they had 
been thrown away, as the camels, being tired and 



30 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

thirsty, could not carry them any longer. Still inter- 
rogated, I replied that the guide who had brought us 
here was the first killed in the firing, and that I did 
not think any one else of our caravan could find their 
way back to the place where the boxes were left. 

At this, rapid glances were passed from one to the 
other. Asked if I was sure he was killed, I could only 
reply that my clerk had told me so, that I had seen him 
fall, and indicated the place. Farag sent off a man in 
that direction after whispering some instructions to him, 
and during the few minutes he was away perfect 
silence reigned in the tent, with the exception of the 
click, click of the beads of the Sibha (rosary). When 
he returned, he whispered his reply to Farag. Two 
of the Alighat Arabs who had joined us at Wadi 
Haifa were next brought up and questioned ; they 
did not give direct replies ; they were taken aside, but 
not far enough away to prevent my overhearing part 
of what went on, when, as a result of promises and 
then threats, I gathered that they undertook to lead 
the dervishes to the spot where the cases had been 
left in the desert. It is quite certain, from the 
questions put by the dervishes, that they were 
ignorant of the precise spot where the baggage had 
been left, and it in a measure confirmed the death of 
Hassan ; but I have always had a suspicion that the 
man shammed death and got away, to present him- 
self later on to Nejoumi. He might easily have 
mingled with the dervishes and not been seen by us. 

The sun had now set ; the conference ended, and 
orders were given by Farag for all to march back by 



IN THE HANDS OF THE DERVISHES 



the route we had come, the Alighat Arabs, with Amin 
between them, leading. We marched for only an 
hour or so, for our camels, being tired and not having 
been watered, gave trouble. A halt was called for the 
night, and what water the dervishes had was partly 
distributed. By sunrise the next day we were on the 
march again, twenty-five men, well mounted, having 
been sent on in advance with the guides. All Saleh's 
men, wounded and sound, were compelled to walk, 
the dervishes and their wounded riding on camels. 

In the afternoon we reached the spot where we had 
left the four men in charge of the baggage, to find 
them with their hands bound behind them. The 
advance party had reached them about ten o'clock in 
the morning, and had doubtless found them asleep, as 
no shots had been fired. The men were not to be 
blamed in any way, and it really mattered but little 
whether they were asleep or awake when taken, with 
the odds against them. I had, on starting for the 
wells, left them the little water I had saved ; had they 
not had this, they could not have slept. 

In the same way that Saleh's men had forgotten 
everything in that mad rush for the water, so did the 
dervishes break loose, forget all about their prisoners, 
and rush on the pile of cases. The ground was soon 
littered with rifles, packets of ammunition, sugar, 
clothing, food, and the hundred and one articles to be 
found in a trading caravan, for the cases and bales of 
the Arabs who had joined us at Wadi Haifa contained 
only merchandise. My mind was soon made up ; 
running towards the other prisoners with my hunting- 



32 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

knife, I thought that at all events the thongs of a few 
might be cut, and making for the camels and scatter- 
ing in different directions, a few might have got clear. 
It was a mad idea, but it was something. Before any 
part of my half-formed plan could be put into execution, 
the guards were down on us. I was taken to the 
Emir, Said Wad Farag, but I excused myself, saying 
that, being a medical man, I had gone to see if I could 
attend to any of the wounded. Complimenting me 
on my thought for the others, he recommended me 
to think of myself, appropriated the knife the guards 
had found in my hand, and told me he would let 
me know when to use it, warning me at the same 
time not to attempt to speak to any of the other 
prisoners. 

When the excitement over the loot had cooled down 
a little, a camel was killed in honour of the occasion, 
and my servant Hasseena was ordered to prepare 
some of the dishes. I was invited to eat with the 
Emirs. Our first dish was the raw liver of the camel, 
covered with salt and shetta — a sort of red pepper. I 
had seen this dish being eaten, but had never partaken 
of it myself before. I had two reasons for eating it 
now : first, I was hungry and thirsty ; secondly, one of 
the first signs of fear is a disinclination, I might say 
inability, to swallow food, and fear of my captors was 
the last thing I intended to exhibit. After the meal, 
my clothes were taken from me, as they looked upon 
them as the dress of a kaffir, and I was turned out 
into the night-air with my singlet, drawers, and socks 
as my complete wardrobe. My turban and Baghdad 



IN THE HANDS OF THE DERVISHES 33 

Kofiyeh were also taken, so that I was bareheaded 
into the bargain. 

When the dervishes had finished their food, and 
before they lay down for the night, the Emir Farag sent 
for all the loot to be collected and brought before his 
tent, when it would later on be distributed according 
to the rules of the Beit-el-Mal (Treasury). This 
institution and its working will be described later. 
Only a part of the loot was collected, for the men, 
knowing from experience th£^xtraordinary manner in 
which loot " shrank '^^m and numbers when 

placed in the hands of the Emirs to be . distributed 
according to rule, concealed in the sand or beneath 
their jibbehs, whatever could be hidden there. The 
pipes and tobacco found in the baggage were burned, 
as their use was prohibited by the Mahdi. Amongst 
my things was found my letter-wallet, and this was 
handed to the Emirs, who afterwards sent for me and 
demanded to know the contents of the letters. I 
replied that they were only business documents, 
receipts for goods, and such like, but that if the wallet 
was handed to me, I would translate each document. 
Being satisfied with this answer, Farag kept the wallet. 
Complaining of my clothing having been taken, he 
allowed me to have my flannel shirt, and gave me a 
piece of rag as head-dress. In this guise, I lay down 
in the sand to doze and wake the whole night through, 
conscious yet unconscious, with the incidents of the last 
eighteen days chasing each other through my brain. 

The camp was astir long before sunrise, and by 
sunrise we were on the move east towards El Kab, 

D 



34 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



which we reached about three o'clock in the afternoon. 
The " wells," at the part we arrived at, are upon 
ascending ground ; but the name " well " in this instance 
is a misnomer. They are shallow basins scooped out 
with the hands or any rough implement, the water 
being found about three feet below the surface, shrubs 
indicating where to scoop. The camels were watered 
and left to graze on the scanty herbage. Another 
camel was killed to celebrate the capture of the 
caravan, and again I was invited to take food with 
the Emirs. I was asked only the most commonplace 
questions, but I could not get any reply to those I 
put, except that Abdel Rahman Wad en Nejoumi would 
tell me all I wished to know. While still with the 
Emirs, Farag called up his followers again, and after 
congratulating them upon the capture of the " English 
Pasha " and the caravan (though the Emir knew very 
well who I was, from old days at Korti), he harangued 
them on the advisability of obeying to the letter the 
orders of the Mahdi transmitted to the Khaleefa, and 
by the Khaleefa to him, winding up his oration with 
threats of punishment and imprisonment to any of the 
faithful who robbed the Beit-el- Mai by concealing any 
of the loot, after which he ordered every one to be 
searched again. I had many opportunities later of 
seeing evidences of what the Emirs most relied upon, 
in regard to the handing over of any loot — an exhor- 
tation to their followers, and an appeal to their religious 
scruples — or threats of punishment and imprisonment. 
Both went together, and were administered in the 
order I have given them, and there was seldom an 



IN THE HANDS OF THE DERVISHES 



occasion when a search did not follow the appeal to 
their honesty, and when punishment did not follow 
the search for concealed loot. 

Wad Farag dismissed me for the night, but I had 
hardly lain down when two dervishes stole up, and 
asked me to describe all the baggage I had with me. 
I said that a list would be found in my wallet, which, 
if they would bring to me, would allow of me giving 
them the required information. One left me, for the 
purpose, I imagine, of asking the Emir for the wallet, 
but returned shortly saying that I should have to re- 
member, and that the list I then gave would be com- 
pared with the list in the wallet. There was no list 
in the wallet, but there were one or two letters I 
wished to extract. I have thought since that, had 
I exhibited less anxiety to get hold of the wallet 
itself, I might have induced them to hand over 
these letters under one pretext or another. I soon 
discovered from their questions that the dervishes 
were spying one upon the other, for they asked me 
directly what were the contents of the bag taken from 
Elias my clerk. I told them three hundred dollars, 
gold and silver jewellery, and some jewellery which 
my servant Hasseena had asked Elias to carry for her. 
Hasseena was sent for to describe her jewellery. The 
information evidently gave these men huge satisfaction, 
and taking Hasseena with them, they sent her back 
with cooking utensils, food and firewood, and ordered 
her to prepare food for me. Having had my food with 
the Emirs but a little time before, I was at a loss to 
understand the meaning of this, but learned later on 



36 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



that it was to prevent any one else approaching her for 
information. Whether these two men were, as they 
said, in charge of the Beit-el-Mal, or whether, having 
seen any of the money or jewellery, they wanted to get 
their share of it, I cannot say, but, in the light of sub- 
sequent events, I should be inclined to believe the 
latter. 

When the food was ready, I invited my guards to 
eat it. I was hoping that a full meal, especially as 
their fatigue was very evident, would induce them to 
sleep, and feigning drowsiness myself, moved off a few 
yards, and scooped out a sand bed. I was prepared 
to risk anything for liberty ; we were in the neighbour- 
hood of the wells, and might travel for days without 
being out of reach of water. Explaining my plans to 
Hasseena, I told her, under the pretence of collecting 
firewood, to try and get up to Amin and Elias, cut 
their thongs with the large knife we had had to cut up 
the meat sent us for food, and tell them to creep 
towards a small tree which I had noticed during day- 
light, and await me there. Some camels with their 
feet fastened by ropes were grazing there, and I 
believed that we might get away unobserved, and get 
some hours' start. But the guards of the prisoners 
were not asleep ; they were very much awake, search- 
ing the prisoners for any valuables, an operation 
which was carried out by each relief of guards, so that 
the sun rose with us still in the hands of the dervishes. 

It was just after sunrise that we moved off again ; my 
guardian must have been impressed with my import- 
ance, for he saddled the camel for me himself, and 



IN THE HANDS OF THE DERVISHES 



brought me a gourd of camel's milk. During this 
day's journey, the Emir Mohammad Hamza, of the 
Jaalin tribe, who was commanding a section of the 
dervishes, rode up to me and inquired about my 
health — the usual form of salutation. He told me not 
to be afraid of any harm coming to me, and then rode 
off again. That evening we arrived at a small en- 
campment of dervishes close to some wells, when I 
was taken before another Emir whom I was told was 
Makin en Nur, and who, from the deference paid 
him by the others, was doubtless the chief. He, too, 
put a few questions to me of the same commonplace 
nature as the others, and waved his hand for me to be 
removed. On being sent for again, I was accused of 
being a Government spy, and asked what I had to say 
for myself. I replied, " I have told you the truth ; what 
do you want me to do now ? tell you a lie, and say I 
am a spy ? If I do so you will kill me for saying I am 
one, and if I say again I am not, you will not believe 
me, and kill me just the same. I am not afraid of you ; 
do as you please." When he questioned me again, I 
said, " I refuse to answer any more questions." My 
manner of speaking to them caused no little surprise, 
as it was doubtless different to what they had expected, 
and to what they had formerly experienced from 
captives. 

A young dervish was called in, and told to conduct 
me to a spot removed from the other prisoners. As 
we walked along, the youth said, " God is just ; God 
is bounteous ; please God to-morrow our eyes shall 
be gladdened by seeing a white Kaffir yoked with 



3S 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



a shayba to a black one." This shayba is the forked 
limb of a tree ; the fork is placed on the neck pressing 
against the larynx, the stem projecting before the 
wearer ; the right wrist is then tightly bound to the 
stem with thongs of fresh hide, which soon dry and 
M bite " the flesh, and the ends of the fork drawn as 
closely together as possible, and fastened with a cross- 
piece. It is a cruel instrument of torture, for the arm 
must be kept extended to its utmost ; to attempt to 
relieve the tension means pressure on the larynx ; but 
when yoked to another man he throws pressure on 
you, and you on him. A prod in the ribs under the 
arm of either victim, with sword or rifle, affords end- 
less amusement to their tormentors in the victims' 
gapes and grimaces as they gasp for breath ; but 
the captor's cup of happiness is filled when an extra 
hard prod knocks one man off his feet, and the poor 
wretches are only helped up again when they are 
almost choking. 

Irritated beyond endurance by the youth's jibes 
and jests, and hoping to put an end to everything 
at once, I threw my weight and strength into one 
blow — and I was a powerful man then — and felled 
him senseless. Taking his rifle, I strode back to the 
tent, almost foaming with rage, and entered ; my 
eyes must have been blazing ; I glared from one to 
the other, wondering whether to fire the one shot and 
then start " clubbing" until I was cut down. Hamza 
was the first to speak, and jumping up, held up his hand, 
saying, " Istanna " (wait). I hurriedly related what 
had occurred, and said what I intended to do. Hamza 



IN THE HANDS OF THE DERVISHES 



came to me, saying, " La, la, la (no, no, no), there 
must be a mistake. You are not to be put in a 
shayba ; our orders are to deliver you alive and well." 
Then turning to the others, he continued, " Hand this 
man over to me ; I shall deliver him alive and well 
to Wad en Nejoumi ; I hold myself responsible for 
him." Some demur was made, when, lowering the 
rifle, I placed the butt on the ground, rested my chin 
on the muzzle, and addressing myself to all, said that 
unless I was left in Hamza's charge I should press the 
trigger — on which my great toe was then resting. 
Hamza again pressed his point, and said, " If you do 
not agree, and this man does any harm to himself, I 
declare myself free of blame and responsibility. I 
have heard of him ; he will do as he says." The effect 
of the words was magical. " Take him away — keep 
him ; do what you wish with him ; never let him come 
near us again — never. Never let him look upon us 
with his eyes." * 

Hamza, turning to me, said, " You must know now 
that our master, Wad en Nejoumi, knew of your 
coming, and sent us to conduct you to him. His 
orders were that you should be treated well ; he 
wishes to speak to you. I will give you security 
until Dongola, where he is waiting for you. I do not 
know what he will do with you ; maybe he will kill 
you — I cannot say ; but, for myself, I promise you will 
arrive in Dongola alive. If anything happens to you, 
the Emir Wad en Nejoumi will kill me. Will you 

* The Soudanese, indeed all Easterns, have a great horror of the " Evil Eye ; " and the grey and 
grey-blue eyes of Europeans in anger, or even in a fixed stare, as I learned later, strike fear, if 
not terror, into the hearts of most. 



4 o A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

promise that you will leave yourself in my hands, will 
not try to kill yourself, or attempt to escape ? " I gave 
my promise, upon which Hamza said, " Leave this 
man to me." 

The conversation which took place between us 
was of much longer duration than the above would 
appear to indicate, but I cannot pretend to remember 
all that was said after the twelve years' interval ; the 
above is the gist of it. I handed Hamza the rifle, 
and he, taking me by the hand in the Bedawi manner, 
led me out of the tent, and towards his section of the 
dervishes. On the way, in a few hurried whispers, he 
gave me to understand that he was really still a friend 
of the Government, and that I might trust implicitly in 
him. On reaching his people, he called four men to 
attend to me, and sending for Hasseena, told her to 
prepare such food as I was accustomed to. Hasseena 
came in rags ; her clothes, like mine, had been taken 
from her. He ordered one of her dresses to be 
returned, and on my showing him how the skin 
had been burned off my back and shoulders with 
the sun, he ordered that I, too, should be supplied 
with more clothing. 



CHAPTER IV 



ARRIVAL IN DONGOLA 



Instead of our starting off the next morning at 
sunrise, a sort of " fantasia " was held. This consisted 
of men riding up and down the camp with mimic com- 
bats between individuals — a sort of circus display. 
Stricter watch was placed over me, and my guards 
warned against allowing me to hold conversation with 
any one. At sunset we were off again, and the follow- 
ing day halted in the desert, El Ordeh (Dongola) 
being then, I was told, a few hours' distant. We rested 
probably a couple of hours, and marched until evening, 
but had not yet sighted Dongola. A final search was 
made for concealed loot, and a piece of my leather 
bag having been discovered on one of the men, he 
was flogged, and, offering to confess, confessed that 
he had found the bag empty on the ground. His 
clothing, and that of his section was searched, and 
resulted in the discovery of seventeen of my Turkish 
dollars ; a further application of the courbag resulted 
in the discovery of the remainder of the three hundred 
dollars, and a third one, of the greater part of the 
jewellery. The flogging and searching delayed us, 



42 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



and instead of travelling that night, we only got away 
in the morning, arriving within sight of Dongola at 
noon, when men were sent in to report our arrival. 

While awaiting the return of the messengers, dis- 
cipline — what there was of it — was relaxed, and the 
camp given over to jubilations. The attentions 
bestowed upon me were not pleasant ; both by words 
and actions I was given to understand what the men 
hoped and expected would be my fate. A respite 
was granted, when the man who had received the 
floggings was brought to me so that I might certify 
that all the things discovered on him and his com- 
panions were extracted from my cash-bag, and that all 
the articles had been recovered. He seemed none 
the worse for his experiences, and the matter was 
explained to me. When the Ansar are flogged, upon 
an expedition, for a theft which, as the Emirs know, 
every one would commit, so many stripes are ordered 
to be given ; these are given with the courbag 
(rhinoceros-hide whip) on the fleshy part of the back, 
and over the clothing. 

He forgave me, and blamed the sugar for his 
discovery. The sugar-loaves, which were part of 
the goods of the Arabs who had joined the caravan 
at Wadi Haifa, had been broken up and distri- 
buted. At the wells some of the men had been 
noticed dipping pieces in the water and munching 
them, and none of the sugar having been handed in 
when the loot was collected, the first search was 
instituted, and this resulted in the discovery of other 
hidden loot. I do not happen to know who might be 



ARRIVAL IN DONGOLA 



43 



the " father of sugar," but I trust that the curses and 
imprecations showered on his head by my dervish 
friend may not reach him. 

Hasseena was brought to be searched, and stripped 
naked ; she cleverly dropped my seal in the sand, and 
pressed it in with her foot. I had asked her to get 
this seal from Elias, as, with this in their possession, 
the dervishes might have written, through my clerk, 
whatever letters they chose, and sealing them with 
my seal, have made them appear authentic. Hasseena 
was again questioned as to who I was, and persisted 
in saying that I was a merchant and not a Government 
official, and while she was being threatened with the 
courbag, which in this instance would have been 
applied as the cat-o'-nine-tails is at home, the Emir 
Hamza came forward as a witness in my favour. 
Hamza was another who, friendly as he was to the 
" Government," had been driven into the ranks of the 
dervishes. After the final search, a move was made 
towards Dongola, opposite which town we arrived 
between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. 
Before the town we descried a grand parade of troops 
taking place, and as we halted a band struck up ; 
from the sound which reached us, the band must have 
been composed of bugles and trumpets of all shapes, 
sizes, and pitch, with just as varied an assortment of 
drums. In the medley they played could be heard 
snatches of the so-called Khedivial hymn. 

When the prisoners had been ranged up in such 
a manner as to make their exhibit most effective, and 
when I, as the prisoner of the occasion, had been 



44 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



placed in the midst of the Emirs, a signal was given, 
on which the horsemen of the paraded army charged 
down upon us in their much-lauded and over-rated 
exhibition of horsemanship. This exhibition consists 
of individual and collective charges right on to the 
opposing line of onlookers, a sudden pulling up of the 
horse which throws it on to its haunches, a meaning- 
less shaking of swords and spears over one's head, 
a swerve to the left or right, the direction being 
dominated by the half-broken jaw for which the sudden 
pulling up with the brutal ring-bit with which the 
horses are ridden (?) is responsible ; another charge, 
and so on until the rider is tired or the horse jibs. This 
is the usual programme, but it is occasionally varied 
by accidents to horses and riders and onlookers, as, 
for example, the affair of Khaleefa Ali Wad Helu, who, 
some few days before the battle of Omdurman, gave 
an inspiriting exhibition to the faithful in front of the 
Mahdi's tomb, in order to instruct them how to charge 
the British lines, and spoiled the whole thing by being 
thrown, breaking his wrist, laming the horse, and 
nearly killing half a dozen of his most ardent admirers 
who were in the front rank. This is not fiction. 

The parade and exhibition, called El Arrdah, given 
in celebration of our capture, lasted more than an 
hour, when a move was made towards Dongola, and 
on arrival at the town, Wad Hamza and Wad Farag 
led me to the gateway of Nejoumi's enclosure. We 
were kept waiting at the entrance for some time, 
and it was as much as my guards could do to protect 
me from the rabble ; the people were in a most excited 



THE KHALEEFA'S TENDER MERCIES. 



ARRIVAL IN DONGOLA 



45 



state, and my position was not rendered any the more 
comfortable by my understanding the language. I was 
prodded with spears and swords, and maybe for a 
quarter of an hour — it may have been more, it may 
have been less — I was subjected to as severe an ordeal 
for patience as ever man was put to. Many of those 
in the rabble knew me from pre-abandonment days, but 
the cringing supplicants of former days were now my 
bitterest foes and tormentors. Curses and imprecations 
are such common accompaniments in ordinary disputes 
in the East — disputes over the most trivial matters — 
that little new could assail my ears in a country 
where a child just learning to babble may be heard, 
in childish innocence, to lisp t9 its mother, " II la'an 
abook," or a much shorter expression which, owing to 
the large number now understanding Arabic, I cannot 
here use, but both of which expressions are in constant 
use. It was the suggestive actions — some of behead- 
ing, some of mutilations, others of a description which 
I may not even hint at, which nearly drove me to 
exasperation ; they did so actually, but I controlled 
myself, and did not allow my exasperation to exhibit 
itself in any way, either by word or deed. 

On entering the enclosure, I was shown to a small 
room, on the floor of which three people were sitting ; 
one rose, and, taking my hand, said, " El Hamdu 
lillah," " Bis-Salaamtuk " (thanks be to God for your 
safety). I was told to sit down. The three scrutinized 
me, and I returned their gaze. For some moments 
nothing was said, and I was determined not to be the 
first to break the silence. Presently food was brought 



4 6 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



in, and I was told to partake of it. As with the first 
meal with the Emirs, I set to with a will, and con- 
tinued eating after the others had finished, taking not 
the slightest notice of my hosts. I was acting a part, 
I admit, for indifferent as I might have appeared to all 
taking place around me, I was at the same time a all 
eyes and ears." 

When I had finished, the one who had first spoken 
to me, and whom I had guessed was Nejoumi, " intro- 
duced" himself to me. He prefaced the series of 
questions he put to me by saying, " Do not be afraid ; 
I hope it will be my pleasure to receive you into the 
true religion, and we shall be good friends." Nejoumi 
assured me that I should soon get accustomed to my 
new mode of life, and would in the end bless him for 
having saved me. He then told me that he knew 
perfectly well who I was, and, not being a " Government 
man," my life was safe at his hands, but my property, 
having been found in a caravan of enemies, must be 
confiscated. I did not follow his reasoning, nor was I 
allowed to, for he sent me off to the house of the Amin 
Beit-el-Mal (storekeeper or director of the Beit-el-Mal), 
with instructions that I should be well attended to. 
Hasseena was sent into the hareem of the same house. 

Early the next morning Nejoumi sent for me, and 
upon arriving at his enclosure, I saw that he had a 
number of Sheikh Salens men under examination. I 
learned later that some had admitted that I was once 
in Government employ, and had fought against the 
Mahdi, but that now I was a merchant only. There 
were, of course, numbers in the town who remembered 



ARRIVAL IN DONGOLA 



47 



me in connection with the expedition, and in order to 
curry favour, they were not averse to credit me with 
exploits and prowess which, if related to and believed 
in by the British authorities, would have placed me 
upon an unearned pedestal. In this instance they were 
related in the hope that I should be placed on the now 
well-known " angareeb," which in a few seconds would 
be drawn away, leaving me suspended by the neck. 
When my turn for interrogation came, my letter- wallet 
was handed to Nejoumi ; he had, no doubt, had the 
contents examined the night before. His first question 
was, " Which are the Government papers ? " I declared 
that there were none, and that all the papers were 
business ones. He then inquired, " Are there no 
papers from the friends of the Government ?" — to which 
I answered, " There may be ; I am a merchant ; I buy 
gum, hides — anything from the Soudan, and sell them 
again to any one else who will buy them from me. It 
is 1 khullo zai baadoo ' (all the same) to me who the 
people are — friends or enemies of the Government — 
provided they pay me. I gave good money for what 
I bought, and wanted good money for what I sold." 
Nejoumi then told me that he had had the letters 
translated by a girl educated in the "Kanneesa" 
(church) of Khartoum. General Stephenson's letter 
had been translated as a "firman" appointing me the 
" Pasha" of the Western Soudan, with orders to wage 
war on the dervishes, for which purpose I had been 
provided with money, rifles, and ammunition, and about 
forty or fifty men as my personal bodyguard. 

At first I was dumfounded; then, serious as my 



4 8 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



position was, I could not restrain myself from bursting 
out laughing. I protested that the translation was 
false, and asked to be shown the document. I was not 
shown it. To a man whom I surmised was the Kadi, 
I said, "If the letter is a 'firman,' then it should be 
written in Arabic, as the Soudanese did not read or 
understand English." This remark appealed to Ne- 
joumi, who said that he did not believe the translation 
himself, as it was quite different from the news he had 
received from Hassib-el-Gabou. I made inquiries 
about this black female convert to Christianity, and 
learned that she knew not a single word of English, 
but few of Italian, and, like the remainder of such 
converts so-called, went to the mission for what she 
could get out of it. I have forgotten her name, 
but hope to discover it before completing my notes, 
when I shall give it. It would be interesting to learn 
how much Christian money had been wasted on the 
education of this supposed convert, married then to a 
Danagli, and a shining light amongst the most fanatical 
of the women, who, with their songs and dances, fanned 
the flame of fanaticism amongst the men. 

More of Salens men were brought in and questioned 
— I questioned with them. In the end, I admitted that 
General Stephenson's letter asked me, if I was passing 
Sheikh Saleh's district, to tell him that arms and 
ammunition were awaiting him at Wadi Haifa ; but that 
I had nothing to do with the sale of them, was proved 
by my arriving after they had been taken over, and my 
papers would show that I had not sold them to him, 
and that I was not going to collect the money for them, 



ARRIVAL IN DONGOLA 



49 



as they believed. The remainder of that conference is 
only a haze to me now, but I remember that later the 
same day I was told that Nejoumi, pressed by the other 
Emirs, had, in order to elicit the truth by frightening 
the others, ordered the execution of fourteen of the 
Arabs who had joined us at Wadi Haifa. Emin, my 
guide, for some reason or another which I never dis- 
covered, was ordered to be executed at the same time, 
and was first to be beheaded. My surmises upon this 
incident had better be left to my next chapter. 

On the following morning, the Amin Beit-el-Mal 
ordered me to get ready to attend a " fantasia " which 
Wad en Nejoumi had arranged, and at which he had 
ordered me to be present ; but, being his prisoner, 
I must appear as one, for which purpose a light ring 
and chain was placed on my neck, and a light chain 
fastened to my ankles. On arrival at Nejoumi's place, 
I found the Kadi trying to persuade Darb es Safai 
and about twelve or thirteen of Saleh's men to become 
Mahdists. Darb es Safai was their spokesman. They 
scorned the exhortations of the Kadi, and heaped on 
his head whatever insults they could. Nejoumi was 
present, and to him Darb es Safai said, "We have 
ridden behind our master, Sheikh Saleh, and we refuse 
to follow you on foot as slaves ; we have come here 
to die — let us die." Being told that if they persisted 
in their stubbornness they would be killed, Darb es 
Safai repeated, "We have come to die — let us die." 
I was then removed to a small mud hut, told to sit 
down, and here hundreds of the populace came to see 
me, flinging at me all the abuse their rich language is 

E 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



capable of, striving with each other to excel in viru- 
lence. Darb es Safai and the others had been marched 
off a short distance, and set to dig a shallow trench ; 
when this was finished, they were ordered to kneel at 
its edge, and their hands were tied behind them ; 
this action is practically the declaration of the death 
sentence. Es Safai asked to be beheaded last, as he 
wished to see how his men could die. Only one 
jumped to his feet when a few heads had rolled into 
the trench, when Es Safai called out, " Kneel down. 
Do you not see these cowards are looking at us ? " 
This was the " fantasia " I was to have assisted at, but, 
by some misunderstanding, I was spared the horrible 
spectacle. 

When the executions were over, my chains were 
removed, and I was again taken before Nejoumi, 
and questioned as to what property I had in the 
caravan, and also if I had any slaves. I said I might 
not possess slaves, but had two servants — Elias, my 
clerk, and Hasseena, who was a freed slave, and now 
my female servant. Elias had been cross-examined, 
but had evidently, in his fright, contradicted himself 
time after time. First he said he was my clerk, then 
he was the servant of some Ali Abou Gordi of the 
Alighat tribe, then trading in the Soudan. Nejoumi 
told me that, if Elias's last tale was true, he could not 
be returned to me, as he must be an enemy. I did 
my best for Elias, telling Nejoumi that he was a good 
clerk and good writer, and that he might be very 
useful to him in writing letters. Hasseena was brought 
in and protested that she was my slave, not my servant ; 



ARRIVAL IN DONGOLA 



5i 



that I had bought her, but, as slaves were not allowed 
by the Government, I had had to give her a shehaada 
(certificate) declaring her free. Nejoumi made a 
present of her to one of the men present, and on this 
Hasseena squatted on the ground and refused to 
budge. She screamed to Nejoumi that he might, if 
he chose, marry her himself, but said that whoever 
her husband might be, he would die the same night, 
since she knew how to poison people secretly. 
She knew nothing whatever about poisons, but this 
remark probably was the reason for her being sent to 
the Khaleefa, as she might be useful. She was sent 
back as " property " to the Beit- el- Mai. 

My ordeal was not yet over ; other chiefs came in, 
and the conference opened soon developed into a heated, 
if not acrimonious, discussion and dispute. I did not 
know Soudani sufficiently to follow all that was said, 
besides which three or four were speaking rapidly at 
the same time ; but I gathered that Nejoumi wished to 
keep me by him, as he believed that I might be made 
useful in signing letters which my clerk would have 
to write. The others, believing the girl's translation 
of the letter, were for despatching me to the next 
world, and sending my head as a gruesome present 
to the commandant at Wadi Haifa, accompanied by 
the supposed " firman." It is not a pleasant experi- 
ence to sit down and hear your fate being discussed, 
conscious that the sentence will be carried out imme- 
diately. No criminal ever scanned the face of a jury 
on its return to court as I did those of my savage 
captors, with ears strained to catch every familiar 



52 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



word ; and, difficult as it is after all these years to 
attempt to give a real analysis of one's feelings then, 
I can remember gloating over the thought that, if 
death were the sentence, I would spring at the throat 
of the first Emir I could reach, with my nails buried 
in and tearing at the flesh, until a blow would finish 
all, and so rob the fanatical horde outside of the 
pleasure of seeing a hated " Turk " publicly executed. 
That the recollection is no imaginary one may be 
guessed from the fact that, when I asked about 
Gabou's " health " at Assouan after my release, one 
part of that conjured scene sprang up, and doubtless 
would have been acted, had Gabou been alive. 

Nejoumi only partly won his point — I was to be 
sent to the Khaleefa. Seven men were sent for, and 
Hasseena and I placed in their charge. Nejoumi 
gave me some clothing, and also a hundred dollars 
from the three hundred taken from me, and we were 
ordered off that night. 



CHAPTER V 



THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CAPTURE 
(Extracts.) 

"He (Nejoumi) captured in the Oasis of Seliraa a large part if 
not the whole of the rifles. This was mainly owing to the impru- 
dence of an enterprising German merchant named Charles Neufeld, 
who had accompanied the convoy, and, desirous of obtaining a 
supply of water, had descended to the Oasis, where he was captured 
by the enemy." 

"... Most of them were killed, and a few, including Neufeld, 
were taken captive to Dongola; there they were beheaded, with the 
exception of Neufeld, who was sent to Omdurman, where he arrived 
on March i, 1887." 

March 21, 1887. — "Sixty Kabbabish have arrived, sent by their 
chief to take over arms and money." 

May 15, 1887. — "Mr. Neufeld is reported to have diverged from 
caravan of Kabbabishes to Sheikh Saleh to Bakah Wells, and to 
have been taken prisoner by the dervishes, as well as a few Kabba- 
bish letters are said to have been captured ; none from this office 
were entrusted to him" (Blue Book No. 2, 1888 — Nos. 50 and 90). 

" Neufeld was now free. His release was owing to one of the 
Emirs representing to Abdullah Khalifa the great service Neufeld 
had been in enabling arms and ammunition to be taken from the 
Kabbabishes at the time Neufeld was captured" (Letter to Mrs. 
Neufeld from War Office. Cairo, 10.3.90). 



54 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



It would be as well to give at once the real history 
of my capture as regards the circumstances and the 
arrangements made to effect it. I received the details 
first from Ahmed Nur Ed Din, who, some months 
after my capture, came to Omdurman on his own 
initiative to try and effect my escape. His version 
was confirmed and amplified by my intended com- 
panion Hogal, who again fell into the hands of the 
dervishes in 1897, an d was imprisoned with me until 
we were finally released a few months ago. 

The treachery of Gabou has also been confirmed by 
Moussa Daoud Kanaga, who has just arrived from 
the Soudan to meet me, he having heard of my release 
and arrival at Cairo. Moussa was one of the Soudan 
merchants with whom I had had many dealings in 
former days, and believing he could do something 
towards effecting my escape, he, after many attempts 
to reach me, finally succeeded in doing so in Sep- 
tember, 1889. 

Instead of wearying my readers with snatches from 
one narrative and the other, I will try, combining all, 
to make one clear and connected story, having for 
this purpose deleted from the last chapter remarks 
and questions put to me by Nejoumi at Dongola in 
order to introduce them here. 

The guide I had engaged for the journey, Hassib- 
el-Gabou, belonged to the Dar Hamad section of the 
Kabbabish tribe which was settled in and around 
Dongola. Gabou was employed as a spy by the 
military authorities on the frontier, but there is not 
the slightest doubt that he was at the same time in 



THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CAPTURE 55 

the pay of Wad Nejoumi. He related to each side 
just sufficient to keep himself in constant good grace 
and pay, and failing authentic news of any description, 
he was able to fall back upon his intimate local know- 
ledge, his double dealings, his knowledge of the people 
and language, and a fund of plausibility which at the 
present day would not pass current for five minutes. 

Between the Dar Hamad section, and the section 
acknowledging Saleh Bey Wad Salem as their head, 
there were a number of old outstanding jealousies 
which had not been settled ; what they were all about 
I cannot pretend to say, but one of the principal was, 
whether Sheikh Saleh or the head of the Dar Hamads 
should be considered the senior. It may not have 
been forgotten by those who have taken an interest 
in Soudan affairs, that the existence of these tribal 
jealousies and disputes between divided tribes was 
taken full advantage of by the Mahdi and Khaleefa, 
in very much the same way as a political agent runs 
one section of a party against another, and gains his 
point, at the cost and discomfiture of the others who, 
for the time being, were unconsciously playing his 
game for him. Sheikh Saleh's party were the real 
Bedawi (men of the desert), and, therefore, more 
reliable than the Dar Hamads, who had the " belladi " 
(town) taint or stigma attached to them. 

Gabou's first plan was, according to his lights, 
to act loyal to his section of the tribe, and so to 
arrange matters that the arms intended for his rivals, 
Sheikh Saleh's section, should fall into the hands of 
his people ; with those arms turned against the 



56 A PRISONER OF THll KHALEEFA 



dervishes, he might see his section come to the front 
as the support of the Government, and maybe be in 
possession of the coveted title of Bey and a Nishan 
(decoration), if his plans succeeded. I have no doubt 
that, had his first plan succeeded, he would have been 
prepared with a plausible tale, and gaining any slight 
advantage over the dervishes would certainly have 
atoned for his defections. His plan as originally con- 
ceived was as follows : — First, he wrote to his own 
sheikh giving him full details of the arms and ammu- 
nition awaiting Saleh's caravan, and there is every 
reason to believe that the letters sent by General 
Stephenson to Sheikh Saleh in the first instance, were 
delayed by Gabon until his plans were complete. 
The guide Hassan, whom I believed had been 
engaged at the last moment, had been engaged some 
time before, and fully instructed in the part he had 
to play. Gabou had promised his people that after 
Sheikh Saleh's caravan left El Selima Wells,, they 
would be led towards the Wadi el Kab instead of 
El Agia Wells, so that even had we filled our water- 
skins at leisure at Selima, we should only have been 
provided with four, instead of eight days' water, and 
two days on the desert without water has its dis- 
comforts. When a Bedawi will travel two or three 
days without water and not murmur, it can be better 
imagined than described what Gabou's promise to 
hand us over " thirsty " meant ; it meant precisely 
what actually did occur — the madness of thirst ap- 
proaching — the lips glued together, the tongue swollen 
and sore in vain attempts to excite the salivary glands 



THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CAPTURE 37 



— the muscles of the throat contracted, and the palate 
feeling like a piece of sandstone, the nostrils choked 
with fine sand, and the eyes reddened and starting, 
with the eyelids seeming to crack at every movement. 
Only those who have experienced what we did during 
those last days on our journey to Wadi el Kab, can fill 
in the missing details in the history of Esau selling 
his birthright for a mess of pottage. 

The Dar Hamads, on receiving Gabou's news, 
made their preparations ; arms buried in the ground 
to conceal them from the dervishes were unearthed, 
but the very evident activity of the people excited the 
suspicions of Wad Nejoumi. Believing that a revolt 
was intended, he prepared to meet it ; but, having his 
spies about, bits of the real truth leaked out. Gabou 
was put to the test ; either written messages or mes- 
sengers were sent to him by Nejoumi, asking about 
Saleh's caravan and the purposes for which they had 
gone to Wadi Haifa. When Gabou saw that his 
first scheme had miscarried, rather than the caravan 
should fall into the hands of his rivals, he preferred 
to reveal to Nejoumi the plot he had planned for 
the benefit of his own people. It was on this account 
that he had, as related, tried at one time to get me to 
abandon the projected journey ; and, as can be under- 
stood, there were many reasons for his sending word 
to Nejoumi saying I was to accompany the caravan. 
His keeping back of Ismail, the leader, day after day, 
was only to allow of his messages reaching Nejoumi 
in time for him to make complete preparations for 
intercepting us. 



53 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Hogal arrived at Wadi Haifa the very evening of 
our departure, and sent over his message. Gabou met 
him and gave him his confidence. He told Hogal 
the means he had used to try and get me to abandon 
the journey, but that he dared not give me the real 
reasons, as he knew I should report the matter, and 
his head would then be in danger ; he had done the 
best he could by letting Nejoumi know who and what 
I was. Still dexterously playing his cards, and to 
keep Hogal quiet, he said that he knew that the 
English were going away ; they certainly would not 
take him with them, and as he and Hogal had their 
family ties in the Soudan, unless he worked with 
Nejoumi, his "good word" would be of no avail to his 
family and friends when the dervishes came down to 
occupy the abandoned towns. 

I trust that my readers are now beginning to see 
the light through this dark conspiracy, and that I am 
making the narrative sufficiently intelligible and clear 
without constantly requesting you to turn back to 
earlier pages. 

Gabou, playing a double part himself, and being 
naturally suspicious of every one in consequence, 
thought that I might have divined his treachery when 
the camels did not overtake us, and might change our 
route in consequence ; these suspicions he com- 
municated to Nejoumi. Had he not done this, I 
might have forgiven him — for it was every one for 
himself in those days. There was not the least neces- 
sity for him to warn Nejoumi that we might change 
our route on discovering that the guide was leading 



THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CAPTURE 59 



us in the wrong direction, for had Nejoumi's men 
not found us, Gabou would not have been blamed. 

Nejoumi, on receiving the news, despatched a large 
number of dervishes under Wad Bessir to Umbellila, 
opposite Abou Gussi, and another under Osman Azrak 
to El Kab opposite to El Ordeh (Dongola), and Said 
Mohammad Wad Farag, Mohammad Hamza, Makin 
en Nur and Wad Umar to the various wells in the 
Wadi el Kab, the latter having orders to keep the 
Dar Hamads in check. I am giving this list of now 
famous names from recollections of what I was told at 
Dongola and Omdurman, not for the purpose of 
thereby investing with a halo of barbaric romance 
an incident which was nothing more nor less than a 
bit of highway robbery, but more with the idea, that 
should any of those named be still living, and eventu- 
ally come into the hands of the Government, they 
might be questioned as to this affair, and their account 
compared with the series of contradictory passages 
which head the present chapter. 

Wad Farag sent a flying party to Selima Wells, led 
by a slave of Wad Eysawee, named Hassib Allah. It 
was Hassib Allah who had fired the shot we heard on 
the day of our arrival at Selima. When taken before 
Wad Nejoumi at Dongola, one of the questions put me 
was, " Did you see any one, or hear a shot fired the 
day you reached Selima," to which I answered " Yes," 
as regards the latter part of the question, thereby 
making an everlasting friend of Hassib Allah, as a 
reward had been promised to whoever should first sight 
us and hurry back to the main body with the news ; 



6o A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



he had fired the shot, so that the question might be 
put. Even in this you may gauge the amount of 
faith or confidence the Ansar had in the word of their 
Emirs, and the amount of credence a European might 
give to their tales when they lied to, and deceived 
each other with such charming impartiality. 

After despatching Hassib, Wad Farag divided his 
party, sending one to the district between Wadi el 
Kab and the Nile, and the second, commanded by 
himself, he led to the desert to intercept us. The 
Alighat Arab sent out as a scout, who did not 
return, must have either been captured by Farag, 
or what is more likely, as he was sent out by Hassan, 
was an emissary of Hassan's to Wad Farag or any of 
the other dervishes to give them the news, as Hassan 
must have been aware of our position and the proximity 
of the dervishes. The tracks we had picked up on 
the road, when the embers of the caravan's fires were 
found still hot, were the remains of the fires of Hassib's 
men, who had kept within touch of us the whole time, 
only losing touch on the day following the disappear- 
ance of the Alighats. 

On reaching the broken ground leading to El Kab, 
my guide Amin and the two others had been allowed 
to pass unchallenged intentionally, as the dervish plan 
was to form themselves into three parties, which were 
to rush us from three sides at the same moment. It 
was in direct disobedience of orders that the first shots 
were fired at us, but it was probably done by some one 
to gain the promised reward for sighting us, and it 
ended, as already related, in a general fusilade. The 



THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CAPTURE 61 



camels loaded with filled water-skins were left behind 
purposely, but their being left was a happy thought at 
the moment of Farag's men. When they retired, it 
was only to join the other section which was to have 
rushed us from the left ; the section to rush us in the 
rear being a little further out in the desert than the 
plan shows. 

Our leader Ismail I never saw or heard of again ; 
he may have succeeded in escaping altogether, only 
to be killed when the virtual extermination of the tribe 
took place and Sheikh Saleh, standing on his sheep- 
skin, fell fighting to the last. 

This account of the capture of the caravan, and the 
explanations given, though not agreeing in essentials 
with the accounts given officially, may be accepted as 
being as nearly correct in every detail as it is possible 
for memory to give them, and the occasion was one of 
those in life where even twelve years' sufferings are 
not sufficient to obliterate the incidents from the mind. 

I feel some little confidence in offering to the world 
my version of the circumstances attending my 
departure from Wadi Haifa for Kordofan, the date 
upon which I really did leave Egypt — as unfortunate 
a date for me as it evidently has been to some of my 
biographers, — and the actual circumstances attending 
my capture, as I happened to be present on the 
various occasions spoken of, and I do not think it will be 
asking too much if I request that the same amount of 
credence be given to my own story as has been given 
to that of others referred to in my introduction, and in 
the extracts which head the present chapter. 



62 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



It now remains, before closing this chapter, to deal 
with Dufa'allah Hogal and his part in the affair. In 
my first letter from Omdurman, which letter was 
written for me by dictation of the Khaleefa, I am 
made to say that I blamed Hogal for his deceit, but at 
the same time thanked him for his deceit, as it had led 
me to grace. This was a clever invention of the 
Emir's at Dongola, or the Khaleefa himself, to get 
Hogal into trouble with the Government, and draw 
away suspicion from Hassan and Gabou. This letter 
was received by one of my clerks at Assouan, who 
fortunately retained a copy before forwarding it on to 
Cairo ; a translation of it will be given later. 

Hogal is not to be blamed for keeping his own 
counsel after Gabou had given him his confidence. 
He had nothing to gain by telling the authorities the 
truth, and he had everything to lose if he did. The 
Khaleefa's spies were everywhere in the Govern- 
ment and out of it, just as the Government spies 
were amongst the Mahdists, and there can be no 
doubt but that they were paid by both sides — and 
who is to blame them ? Hogal's family ties and 
relations were in the Soudan, and there was no use in 
his raising a question over a dead man. I may have 
something to say about guides and spies later on, but 
it will not be with the idea of calling any of them to 
justice. The only justice they knew of was that con- 
tained in " Possession is nine points of the law," or 
" Might conquers right," and it suited their natures 
admirably to play a double game, rendered so easy for 
them with a Khaleefa who, having made up his mind to 



THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CAPTURE 63 



do a certain thing, ever kept that object in view, 
and worked for its accomplishment, whilst on the other 
hand was a Government which in their opinion did not 
seem to know its own mind from one day to another 
as to what should be done with the Soudan and its 
subjects resident there. 



CHAPTER VI 



DONGOLA TO OMDURMAN 

During the early part of the night of April 27, the 
Amin Beit-el-Mal told me to prepare for my journey 
to Omdurman, as Wad Nejoumi had sent for me. 
There was little preparation I could make, except to 
beg some sesame oil to rub over my face, shoulders, 
back, and feet. The woollen shirt and clothing I had 
been allowed had not been sufficient to protect me 
against the burning rays of the sun, and the skin was 
peeling away from my face, shoulders and back, while 
my feet were blistered and cut. My stockings had 
been worn through in a day's tramping through the 
sand. Taken to Nejoumi's enclosure, Nejoumi and I 
sat together talking for a considerable time. He told 
me that he had wished to keep me by him for the 
purposes of "akhbar" (information, or news), but 
that the other Emirs had insisted upon my being killed 
at once, or sent to the Khaleefa with the supposed 
"firman " appointing me " The Pasha of the Western 
Soudan," to be dealt with by the Khaleefa at 
Omdurman. Nejoumi said he had written asking that 
I should be sent back to him. He put to me many 



DONG OLA TO OMDURMAN 



65 



questions about the Government, the fortifications of 
Cairo and Alexandria, Assouan, Korosko and Wadi 
Haifa, and in particular he was anxious to know all 
about the British army and " Ingleterra." The ad- 
vance up the Nile for the relief of Gordon had 
evidently given him a very poor opinion of our means 
of transport, at least as regards rapidity of movement, 
for when I told him of the distance between Alexandria 
and England, and assured him that steamers could 
bring in a large army in a week's time, he smiled and 
said, " I am not a child, to tell me a tale like that." 
He may or may not have gone to his grave believing 
that I was romancing, when I described to him what 
an ocean-going steamer was like, and did my best to 
give him some idea of the proportions of a Nile 
Dahabieh compared with an ocean-going steamer and 
a man-of-war. 

I left him firmly impressed with the idea, and this 
impression was only intensified months later when a 
number of his chief men were ordered back to 
Omdurman and thrown into prison with me, that had 
Nejoumi had any one in whom he could repose his 
confidence and absolute trust in such a delicate matter, 
he would have sent in his submission to the Govern- 
ment, and laying hands upon the Emirs sent by the 
Khaleefa to spy upon him — for he was then under 
suspicion — would have led his army as " friendlies " to 
Wadi Haifa, and have asked assistance to enable him 
to turn the tables on the Khaleefa. What further leads 
me to make such a bold assertion or statement is that 
the Emirs, or chief men, referred to already as having 

F 



66 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



been thrown into prison with me at Omdurman, gave 
me, as their fellow-captive, first their sympathy, and 
then their complete confidence. I learned from them 
the fate of those of Saleh's caravan whom I had left alive 
at Dongola. They had, they told me, been executed 
in batches of varying numbers at intervals of some 
days, Elias my clerk being the last to be executed, and 
he not being executed until about two months after my 
departure from Dongola. Nejoumi, for reasons which 
will be at once seen, kept him alive to the last, and 
then doubtless only gave the order for his execution 
when, despairing of my being sent back to him, he 
gave way to the importunities of the other Emirs 
anxious to see the last of Salens people executed. 

From what they confided to me, there could not be 
the slightest doubt that a conviction of the imposture 
of the Mahdi's successor was growing and spreading 
amongst the Mahdists ; but the system of espionage 
instituted by the Khaleefa nipped in the bud any 
outward show of it. There can be also no doubt 
that these confidants of Nejoumi had, in some way, 
compromised themselves when speaking in the presence 
of some of the Khaleefa's agents, and that Nejoumi 
himself had only not been ordered back with them 
because of his popularity and the Khaleefa's fear 
and jealousy of him. There was no one whom 
Nejoumi, or, for the matter of that, any one — not even 
excepting the Khaleefa himself, might implicitly trust 
in the Soudan. The man to whom you gave your 
innermost confidences might be friend or foe, and 
as all changed face as rapidly and constantly as 



DONG OLA TO OMDURMAN 



67 



circumstances dictated, it would be safe to say that 
no one in the Soudan for a single moment trusted 
any one else. 

Whatever Nejoumi's convictions may have been in 
the earlier days of the Mahdist movement, it is certain 
that they underwent a great change. Indeed, his 
advance against the Egyptian Army at Toski, when he 
was killed, was, as I was told by some of his people 
imprisoned with me after their return, only undertaken 
when he was goaded to it by the reproaches of the 
Khaleefa, accusing him of cowardice and treachery, 
accompanied with threats of recalling him to Omdur- 
man — and Nejoumi knew well what this implied. 

In the last chapter I remarked that I would later 
offer some surmises as to the reason why my guide 
Amin was the first to be executed at Dongola, and 
it would be well to insert them here, while speaking of 
my fellow-prisoners from Nejoumi's army. Though 
they could not be positive on the point, they were 
certain that Amin's two or three passages-at-arms 
with the guide Hassan had been related to the 
assembled Emirs at Dongola immediately after our 
arrival, and Amin was in consequence ordered to be 
at once executed. I expressed my suspicions as to the 
actual death of Hassan at El Kab, and in face of what 
I was told, I cannot help but believe that his falling 
from the camel was an arranged affair, and that he 
came with the caravan to Dongola, and gave evidence 
against Amin. Following up this suspicion or supposi- 
tion, it is very probable that he originated the ' ' cock- 
and-bull " story related to the military authorities, 



68 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



detailing the supposed incidents of the capture of 
Saleh's caravan and myself. It will not have been 
forgotten that the published official and semi-official 
records report my capture at two different places a 
hundred and fifty miles apart, or, in other words, a 
minimum of five days' journey, and at different dates, — 
in one instance announcing my arrival at Omdurman 
as a captive one month before the caravan which I 
was supposed to have betrayed — or been the cause 
of the capture of through " imprudence " — had even 
started from Wadi Haifa. 

In the early morning of April 28, I and Hasseena 
were taken outside the town to where the guards 
and camels were awaiting us, and setting off on our 
journey, travelled through Hannak, Debbeh, Abou 
Gussi, and Ambukol. The incidents connected with 
our appearance at these places are not of sufficient 
interest to warrant my detaining my readers with them. 
From Ambukol we struck into the desert, making for 
the Nile at Gebel Roiyan, enduring the inevitable dis- 
comforts and privations of such a journey. On arrival 
at the village near Gebel Roiyan, we took possession of 
what we believed to be a deserted house, and, after 
taking a little food, lay down to sleep. During the 
night a wretched old woman crept into my room, and 
commenced that peculiar wailing known to those who 
have been in the East. She was, she said, " El umm 
Khashm-el-Mus " (the mother of Khashm-el-Mus — but 
the expression may be taken to imply merely that she 
was one of Khashm-el-Mus's family or relatives), whom 
Gordon had sent with gunboats to Metemmeh to 



DONG OLA TO OMDURMAN 



6g 



accompany Sir Charles Wilson on his voyage to 
Khartoum. Her sons, the whole of her family (or 
tribe), had been killed by the Khaleefa's order, and, as 
far as she knew, she was the only one left. Taking no 
notice of my guards, who had come in, attracted by the 
wailing and talking, she cursed the Mahdi, and every 
thing and every one connected with him. The 
wailings of the poor creature, her pinched, sunken 
cheeks, her glistening eyes, her skinny, hooked fingers, 
her vehement curses on the Mahdi and Khaleefa, and 
the faint glow from the charcoal embers which only 
served to outline the form of the old woman as some 
horrid spectre as she stood up and prophesied my 
death, completely unnerved me. If there was one 
night in my life upon which I required a few hours' 
rest it was on this — the last, as I knew, before my 
entering Omdurman. But no sleep came to my eyes 
that night. Soon after the woman left, a sound of 
dull thuds, a shriek, a moan, and then silence told its 
own tale. She had been battered to death with curses 
on the Mahdi on her lips.' 

The night was one long, horrible, wakening night- 
mare, but all was real and not a fantasy of the brain. 
How I longed for the dawn ! and how impatiently I 
waited for it ! For the first time I had fears for my 
reason. The sensation I felt was as if a cord had 
been slipped round my brain, and was gradually but 
surely tightening. But enough of this ; it is not 
necessary to interlard my experiences with painful 
mental sensations, real as they were. 

It was with some little difficulty that I shuffled my 



70 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

way to the camels next morning, to mount and get 
away on our last stage of the journey to Omdurman. 
We reached the town at noon, on Thursday, May 5, 
and passed in almost unnoticed until we reached 
the market-place, when the news having spread like 
wildfire, we were soon surrounded by thousands of 
people, and it was with the greatest difficulty we fought 
our way to the open praying-ground adjoining the 
burial-place of the Mahdi. (The tomb had not then 
been built.) Here I was placed in the shade of the 
rukooba. (The rukooba is a light structure of poles 
supporting a roof of matting and palm branches, in 
the shade of which the people rest during the heat of 
the day.) Two of my guards went off to deliver Wad 
Nejoumi's despatches to the Khaleefa, and also to 
announce my arrival. 

Shortly afterwards, Nur Angara, Slatin, Mohammad 
Taher, and the chief Kadi, with others, came to 
question me. Slatin addressed a few words to me in 
English, but not understanding him, I asked him to 
speak in German, upon which he said in an under- 
tone, " Be polite ; tell them you have come to join 
the Mahdieh in order to embrace the Mahdi's 
religion; do not address me." Nur Angara, who put 
the majority of the questions, asked, "Why have 
you come to Omdurman ? " I hesitated a little 
before replying, but did not hesitate long enough to 
allow my European blood to cool sufficiently to reply 
' * politely" to the imperious black confronting me.' I 
told him, " Because I could not help myself ; when I 
left Wadi Haifa it was to go and trade and not fight, 



DONG OLA TO OMDURMAN 



7* 



but your people have taken me prisoner, and sent me 
here ; why do you ask me that question ? " Slatin at 
this moved behind the other Emirs, and I believe 
made some attempt to make me understand that I 
should speak differently to them; My helplessness was 
galling to me ; there was not a man there whom, 
pulled down as I was, I could not with sheer strength 
have crushed the life out of. 

I was questioned about the number of troops at 
Wadi Haifa and Cairo, the fortifications, etc., but 
neither places would have recognized the fortresses 
I invented for the occasion, and the numbers of 
troops with which I invested them. When told that 
news had been received from Wad Nejoumi that 
the British troops were leaving, I admitted the 
truth of this, but said that they could all be brought 
back to Wadi Haifa in four days. All the questions, 
or nearly all, were in connection with the army 
and the movement of the troops, and this will be 
understood when it is remembered that, by some, I 
was believed to be " Pasha," and all Pashas in the 
Soudan were military leaders. 

I have been shown a statement to the effect that my 
readiness to talk " made a bad impression/' but this 
remark was not, at the time of writing, sufficiently ex- 
planatory — and yet it may have been. Other captives 
had grovelled at the feet of their captors ; I did not, 
hence probably the " bad impression " created ; and 
while the world may blame me for being so injudicious 
as to treat my powerful captors with such scant courtesy, 
it can hardly be expected that I, even had I not passed 



72 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



six years in close connection with the British Army on 
the field of battle, and in times of comparative peace, 
should in a moment forget and lose my manhood, and 
cover with servile kisses the hands of a savage black — 
and one of the murderers of Gordon to boot. I thank 
God, now that I am restored to " life," that my first 
appearance as the Khaleefa's captive " made a bad 
impression," for even in this I choose to accept an 
evidence that I was not what I have in some instances 
been represented as being. 

On the Emirs and others leaving me, some dervishes 
advanced, stripped me of the jibbeh and clothes given 
me by Nejoumi, replacing them with a soldier's old 
jersey and cotton drawers. My feet were next fet- 
tered, and a ring, with a long heavy chain attached, 
was fastened round my neck. During that evening — 
indeed, during the whole night, crowds came to look 
at me, while the ombeyeh (war-trumpet made from a 
hollowed tusk) was sounded the whole night through. 
A woman, a sort of Mahdist amazon, walked and 
danced up and down in front of me, singing and 
gesticulating, but I could not catch the full meaning of 
her words. Noticing Hasseena sobbing violently a 
few yards away, I called to her, and asked what was 
the matter with her. She told me that the ombeyeh 
was calling up the followers of the prophet to come 
and witness my execution, and that the woman, in her 
rude rhyme, was describing my death agonies, and my 
subsequent tortures in hell as an unbeliever. One of 
my guards told me that what Hasseena had related 
was true, and I had curiosity enough to ask him the 



DONG OLA TO OMDURMAN 



73 



details of an execution ; these having been described 
to me, I refused food and drink. I was determined 
to deprive the fanatics of one looked-for element 
connected with my execution — but I may not enter 
into details. 

At dawn the following morning, a dervish came to 
me, and crossing my right hand over the left at the 
wrists, palms downward, proceeded to bind them to- 
gether with a rope made of palm fibre. When the 
ropes had, with a bit of wood used as a tourniquet, 
been drawn well into the flesh, water was poured over 
them. The agony as the ropes swelled was excru- 
ciating; they "bit" into the flesh, and even now I 
cannot look at the scars on my hands without a 
shudder, and almost experiencing again the same 
sensations as those of twelve years ago. 

With the perspiration rolling off me with the pain 
I was enduring, and no longer able to conceal that 
I was suffering, I was led forth to be the sport of 
the rabble. Made to stand up in the open space, 
bareheaded, with thousands around me, I believed 
the moment for my decapitation had come, and 
muttering a short prayer, I knelt down and bent my 
head, but was at once pulled to my feet again ; the 
populace wanted their sport out of me first. Dervishes 
rushed at me prodding with spears and swords, and 
while this was going on, two men, one on each side of 
me, with the mouths of their ombeyehs placed against 
my ears, blew their loudest blasts. One powerful 
man in particular, with a large spear, gave me the idea 
that it was he who had been told to give the final 



74 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



thrust, and when he had made a number of feints, I 
tried in successive ones to meet the thrust. One of 
the men guarding me, taking the chain attached to the 
ring round my neck, pulled me back each time, much 
to the delight of the assembled people. 

The ropes with which I was bound had now done 
their work ; the swollen skin gave way, and the horrible 
tension was removed as the ropes sank into the flesh. 
If I had exhibited any feeling of pain before, I was now 
as indifferent to it as I was to the multitude around 
me. A messenger of the Khaleefa, Ali Gulla, asked 
me, " Have you heard the ombeyehs ? " — a bit of the 
Khaleefa's supposed pleasantry, when it was by his 
orders that the mouths of the instruments had been 
placed against my ears. On nodding my reply, Gulla 
continued, " The Khaleefa has sent me to tell you 
that he has decided to behead you," to which I 
replied, " Go back to your Khaleefa, and tell him that 
neither he nor fifty Khaleefas may so much as remove 
a hair from my head without God's permission. If 
God's will it is, then my head shall be cut off, but it 
will not be because the Khaleefa wills it." He went 
to the Khaleefa with this message, and returned 
saying, " The Khaleefa has changed his mind ; your 
head is not to be cut off; you are to be crucified as 
was your prophet Aisse en Nebbi " (Jesus the 
Prophet) ; after saying which, he told my guards to take 
me back to the rukooba while preparations were made. 

By this time, what with the fatigue and privations 
on the journey, my head almost splitting as the 
result of the ombeyeh's blasts, the agony caused by the 



DONGOLA TO OMDURMAN 



75 



ropes binding my wrists, and the torture of scores of 
small irritating and stinging flies attacking the raw- 
flesh of my hands, and the sun beating down on my 
bare head, I was about to faint. An hour later, I was 
ordered off to the place of crucifixion ; being heavily 
chained, I was unable to walk, so had to be placed 
upon a donkey, on which I was held up by two men. 
On coming to a halt, instead of the crucifix I had 
expected, I found a set of gallows. I was lifted from 
the donkey and placed close to the " angareeb," with 
the noose dangling just over my head. Pain and 
faintness at once left me. A few minutes more would 
end all, and I had made up my mind that that horde 
should respect me even in my death. I tried to 
mount the angareeb, but my chains prevented me. 
A tall black (the chief Kadi of the Khaleefa), placing 
his hand on my arm, said, " The Khaleefa is gratified 
at your courage, and, to show this, offers you the choice 
of the manner of your death." I replied, " Go back to 
your Khaleefa, and tell him that he may please him- 
self as to what form my death comes in, only if he 
wishes to do me a favour, be quick about it ; the sun 
burns my brain." To which the Kadi replied, " You 
will be dead in a few minutes ; what will you die as, 
as a Muslim or a Kaffir ? " I was growing desperate, 
and answered at the top of my voice, " Ed Deen mush 
hiddm terrayer nahaarda ou Bookra " (Religion is not 
a dress to be put on to-day and thrown off to-morrow). 

My reply, and the manner in which I gave it, I was 
gratified to see, made him angry. While we were still 
talking, a man on horseback made his way through 



76 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

the crowd to us, and spoke to the Kadi, who, turning 
to me, said, " Be happy, there is no death for you ; the 
Khaleefa, in his great mercy, has pardoned you." To 
which I asked, " Why ? Have I asked for his 
pardon ? " for I did not believe for a moment that 
such was actually the case. I was at once bundled 
on to the donkey, however, and taken back to the 
rukooba. Some one had reported to the Khaleefa 
about the state of my hands, and a man was sent at 
once with orders to have the ropes removed. Food 
in abundance was sent me, but this I gave to the 
ombeyeh men who had escorted me back to the 
rukooba, and I could even then smile at one of the 
men who complained that he could not enjoy the 
food, as his lips — great thick black ones they were, too 
— were as raw with blowing the ombeyeh all night as 
my hands were with the ropes. 

On the following day I was taken before the Kadis, 
with whom was the Khaleefa and Slatin. I was 
asked, " Why have you come to Omdurman ? " to 
which I gave the same reply as I had given to Nur 
Angara. The letter of General Stephenson was 
exhibited to me, and I was asked, " Is this your 
firman ? " to which I replied that it was no firman, but 
a letter from a friend about business, and that it had 
nothing to do with the Government. Slatin was told 
to translate it, but, fortunately, did not translate it all. 
On his being asked his opinion of me, he told the 
Khaleefa that from the papers found in my wallet, I 
appeared to be a German and not an Englishman, but 
that I had the permission of the English Government 




WRITING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 



DONG OLA TO OMDURMAN 



77 



to go to Kordofan on merchant's business. He also 
said that Sheikh Saleh's name was mentioned, but only 
in connection with business of no consequence. I was 
then asked if I wished to send any message to my 
family. Naturally I did, and pen and paper being 
given me, I commenced a letter in German to my 
manager at Assouan ; but, after a few lines had been 
written, the Khaleefa said the letter had better be 
written in Arabic. The letter, when finished, was 
handed to me to sign ; but, not knowing the contents, 
I scrawled under the signature, as a flourish, " All lies," 
or something to this effect. 

The letter was sent down by one of the Khaleefa's 
spies, and was delivered to the Commandant at 
Assouan. The word " Railway " appearing as part of 
the address, it was sent to Mankarious Effendi, the 
stationmaster, who, after taking a copy of it for 
reference, returned it to the commandant, with the 
address of my manager. Mankarious Effendi, having 
heard of my recent arrival in Cairo, has come to me 
with the original copy of the letter taken in June, 
1887. The following is a literal translation of it: — 

" In the name of the most merciful God, and prayers be unto our 
Lord Mohammad and his submissive adherents. 

" From the servant of his lord Abdallah el Muslimani the Prussian 
whose former name was Charles Neufeld, to my manager Moller the 
Prussian in the Railway Assouan. 

" I inform you that after departing from you I have come to the 
Soudan with the men of Saleh Fadlallah Salem el Kabbashi, who 
were carrying with them the arms and ammunition and other articles 
sent to Saleh by the Government. 

f< On our march from Wadi Haifa, notwithstanding our pre- 



78 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



cautions and care for the things in our charge, we arrived at the so- 
called Selima Wells, where we took sufficient water, and proceeded on 
our journey. Suddenly we were met by six of the adherents in the 
desert ; they attacked us, and we fought against them. Our number 
was fifty-five men. At the same time, a number of men from Abdel 
Rahman Nejoumi came up ; they reinforced the six men and fought 
us, and in the space of half an hour we were subdued by them. 
Some were killed, and the rest were captured with all the baggage we 
had. Myself, my servant Elias and my maidservant Hasseena were 
among the captives. All of us were taken to Abdel Rahman 
Nejoumi at Ordeh, and by him sent to the Khalifat el Mahdi, peace 
be unto him, at Oradurman. On our arrival at Omdurman, we wer 
taken to his presence, where we were found guilty and sentenced to 
immediate death ; but the Khalifat el Mahdi, peace be unto him, had 
mercy upon us, and proposed unto us to take the true religion, and 
we accepted El Islam, and pronounced the two creeds in his 
presence : 1 1 testify (bear witness) that there is none but God, and 
Mohammad is his prophet ; and then, 1 1 believe in God and his 
Prophet Mohammad, upon whom God has prayed and greeted ; and 
in the Mahdi, praise, peace be upon him and upon his Khaleefa.' I 
further requested the Mahdi to grant me the 'baiV (oath of 
allegiance) which he was pleased to grant me, and thereupon shook 
hands with me. He then named me Abdallah, after embracing the 
true religion. Therefore I was pardoned by the Khalifat-el-Mahdi 
from the execution which I have deserved. He pardoned me 
because he is gracious, and for the sake of the religion of Mohammad 
which I now adhere to. So I thought it well to inform you all about 
these events, and I inform you further that Dufa'allah Hogal, although 
he deceived me, I cannot sufficiently thank him, because his deceiving 
me has resulted in the great mercy and good which has come to me. 
Saleh Fadlallah Salem is deserting and hiding in the desert, for fear 
of his life. All that I have informed you is pure truth. I am still 
living, thanks be to God for this and my health. 17th Shaaban, 1304 
(May 10, 1887)." 

It is only now, November 25, 1898, that Mankarious 
has placed me in possession of the real details. My 
manager, who when he returned to Egypt a few 



DONG OLA TO OMDURMAN 



79 



weeks ago, on hearing of my release, denied ever 
having received any communication from me, on 
August 6, 1887, addressed a letter to my father, 
written on my own business paper, saying that he 
had received the above letter, had had it translated, 
and communicated to the Egyptian Gazette, which 
paper published the letter in its issue of August. 

Slatin I saw but once again during my long captivity, 
and then it was only in the distance on one occasion 
when he called at the prison to give some orders to 
the head-gaoler. The Khaleefa I saw twice again, on 
occasions to be referred to later. 

After signing the letter, I was taken back to the 
rukooba, where, about sunset, a man carrying a long 
chain came to me and said he had orders to remove 
my fetters. Passing the chain through one of the 
anklets and round one of the posts, he took a short 
pole, and used this as a lever to force the anklets 
open. Whilst still engaged in removing the chains, 
the chief Kadi came in, and ordered the anklets to be 
hammered back again, and the ends cold welded. 

I remained in the rukooba for the night, and the 
following morning was placed upon a donkey and 
taken to the prison. I was told that, to save my life, 
Slatin had suggested this course being taken, using as 
an argument that I could there be converted to the 
Mohammedan religion, and devote all my time to my 
instructors. 



CHAPTER VII 



THROWN INTO PRISON 

On entering the prison I found myself in the company 
of about a hundred poor wretches, Soudanese and 
Egyptians, and all chained. I was taken at once to an 
anvil sunk in the ground until the striking surface was 
almost level with it ; first one foot and then the other 
had to be placed on the anvil, while more anklets with 
chains connected, were fitted to me. I had now three 
sets of shackles, and another ring and chain was 
fastened to my neck. During my twelve years in 
chains, and amongst the hundreds who came directly 
under my observation, I never saw, as has been 
illustrated in some papers, any prisoner with chains 
from the neck connected with the wrists or ankles. 
All prisoners were shackled in the manner as shown 
in my photograph ; the chain from the neck was 
allowed to hang loose over the shoulder. 

The shackling completed, I was taken to a room 
measuring about thirty feet each way, but having a 
pillar about four feet wide to support the roof, thus 
reducing the actual space to about twenty-six feet 
between each face of the pillar and the walls. I was 



THROWN INTO PRISON 



Si 



assigned a place at the wall furthest from the door, 
and between two men — in chains — dying of small-pox. 
There were about thirty other prisoners in the room, 
some lying down ill, to whom not the slightest atten- 
tion had been paid for days, as sickening visible 
evidences proved. Near the roof were a few small 
apertures presumably for ventilation, but the only air 
which could come into the place was through the 
doorway when it was opened. The stench in the 
room was sickening — overpowering. I had little 
hopes of surviving more than a few days in such a 
hole, and must have swooned off soon after entering, 
for I remember little or nothing until roused after 
the sun had set, when in the dim light I could see 
what appeared to be an endless stream of prisoners 
coming through the door, and no sooner was the door 
closed when a terrific din and uproar ensued. Mingled 
with the clanking of chains, the groans of the sick, the 
moans of the dying, and their half-uttered prayers to 
Allah to relieve them of their sufferings, were the 
most fearful imprecations and curses as the prisoners 
fought and struggled for a place near the walls or the 
pillar, against which they could rest their backs ; no 
sleep was to be had ; this had to be snatched during 
the day, when allowed out into the zareeba. It is out 
of the question to try to describe my first night ; 
it is a confused horrible dream to me. 

On the opening of the cell door next morning, I 
swooned again, and was carried into the open air to 
come round, and I had no sooner partially done so, 
when I was carried back, in order, as I was told, "to 



32 A PRISONER OF THE KH ALEE FA 



get accustomed to the place." My first three days 
passed in fever and delirium ; my legs were swelling 
with the weight of the chains and anklets ; my earliest 
clear recollection was on what I knew later to be the 
fourth day, when an Egyptian, Hassan Gammal, was 
sent to attend to me. Later on, the same day, my 
servant Hasseena was sent to me to prepare food 
and bathe my legs. Until now I had eaten nothing, 
and I have no recollection of even taking a drink of 
water. Hasseena, on my being sent into prison, had 
been sent into the Khaleefa's hareem ; but, on her 
telling the women and eunuchs that she was with child, 
she was promptly turned out. The money I had 
brought with me, and which had been taken from me 
on my arrival, and sent to the Beit-el-Mal, was given 
to Hasseena with which to purchase my food. On 
her entering the prison enclosure, Idris-es-Saier, the 
head-gaoler, relieved her of the money, saying he 
would take care of it, and shackling her with a light 
chain, sent her into his hareem. 

I now received permission to sit outside during the 
day, and also to converse with the other prisoners. 
On my first entering the prison I had been warned, 
under threats of the lash, not to speak to any one, 
and the other prisoners, under the same threat, had 
been warned not to speak to me. They, as may be 
guessed, were most anxious to talk to me, and get 
some news rom the outer world, but they were most 
guarded in their inquiries. There were many 
prisoners in the place, who, to curry favour with the 
gaoler or the Khaleefa, would have reported anything 



THRO WN INTO PRISON 



03 



in the way of a complaint against their treatment — a 
wish on the part of any one to escape, or an ex- 
pressed hope that the Government would soon send 
troops to release us. Knowing that the Government 
had, for the time being, abandoned all thoughts of 
re-conquering the Soudan, I told my fellow-captives, 
when they spoke to me about a probable advance of 
the combined armies, that they must have patience 
until the hot weather passed. Had I told them what 
I knew, their despair could not have been concealed, 
and the truth would soon have reached the Khaleefas 
ears. A number of the prisoners were old soldiers of 
the Egyptian army, who had been taken at the fall of 
Khartoum and elsewhere, and they waited day after 
clay, week after week, and year after year, still hoping 
that the Government for whom they had fought would 
send troops to release them ; but, with the greater 
number, their release came only with death — at the 
gallows, at the Khaleefa's shambles, or by disease 
and starvation. 

Imprisoned at one time with me was Mahmoud 
Wad Said, the Sheikh of the Dabaanieh tribe, who 
for years had kept the Abyssinians in check on 
the Egyptian frontier in the Eastern Soudan. At 
one time he was powerful, rich in cattle, slaves, and 
lands, but had been taken prisoner early in the 
Mahdist movement. When he had been imprisoned 
about three years and four months, he became para- 
lyzed, and his release was ordered by the Khaleefa, 
who had so far relented as to allow of his dying with 
his family, then at Omdurman, patiently waiting for 



8 4 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



his promised release. By their careful nursing and 
attention, the old man recovered, only, when the 
Khaleefa heard of it, to be thrown into prison again, 
where he passed another thirteen months, at the end 
of which time he was once more released, on con- 
dition that he would collect the remnants of his tribe, 
and attack his old enemies the Abyssinians, whom the 
Khaleefa was then fighting with. A few months 
later I heard that Mahmoud was dead, one report 
saying that he had died of a broken heart, and the 
other that he had been " removed " by order of the 
Khaleefa, for failing to bring together again a tribe, 
which the Khaleefa himself had almost exterminated. 

Another of my companions in adversity was Ajjab 
Abou Jinn, of the Hammadah tribe ; he fought with 
the Government troops at Sennar, and, when defeated 
by the dervishes, he retired to his country with his 
men until, on the fall of Sennar, he was attacked and 
defeated, his property confiscated, and he taken 
prisoner to Omdurman, his wife being sent into the 
Khaleefa's hareem. After spending four years in 
prison, he was considered sufficiently " educated," and 
released, and in a few months was allowed to return 
to his own country, when he set about making pre- 
parations to attack the dervishes, and tried all means 
to get into communication with the Government. 
Many of his people came to see me in prison, in 
the hopes of learning news from me of a forward 
movement. 

The three sons of Awad el Kerim, Pasha of the 
Shukrieh tribe, were also in prison with me; their 



THROWN INTO PRISON 



85 



father had died in prison shortly before my arrival. 
After keeping the three brothers — Abdalla, Moham- 
mad, and Ali — for nineteen months, the Khaleefa 
promised to release them on condition that their tribe 
came to Omdurman and tendered their submission, 
which they did ; but, coming unprovided with food, 
the tribe in the four or five months they were kept 
waiting at Omdurman, was decimated by disease and 
starvation, and then, and then only, the Khaleefa kept 
his promise, and released their chiefs, 

A man whom I almost struck up a real friendship 
with, was Sheikh Hamad-el-Nil, a well-known re- 
ligious teacher from the Blue Nile. Having great 
influence over a large number of people, the Khaleefa, 
fearing he might obtain a following, ordered him to 
Omdurman. Here a difficulty arose as to what 
charge could be brought against him in order to con- 
demn him to imprisonment. Sheikh Hamad had taken 
neither one side nor the other — Government nor 
Mahdieh, and had devoted his whole time to a strict 
preaching of the Quoran, as he had done for years. 
No Kadi dare condemn him on any charge made, 
suborn " witnesses " as the Khaleefa would. But the 
Khaleefa was determined to effect his condemnation 
by some means, more especially as Sheikh Hamad was 
rich, and the Beit-el-Mal was short of funds. Men 
were sent to the Sheikhs house with orders to conceal 
some tobacco in the ground — others were sent to 
discover it, and tobacco being forbidden by the Mahdi, 
Sheikh Hamad, in spite of all protestations, was 
sentenced by the Kadi to imprisonment and the 



86 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

confiscation of his property. His health broke down 
after about eighteen months' privations, and he was re- 
leased ; but recovering as did Mahmoud, he was again 
imprisoned, and died a few weeks later. Of all those 
in the prison, Sheikh Hamad was the only one who 
dared say openly to those whom he trusted that both 
Mahdi and Khaleefa were impostors. Two of my 
first four years were spent mainly with the Sheikh 
learning to read and write Arabic, discussing the 
tenets of the Christian and Mohammedan religions, and 
telling him of our social life and customs in Europe. 

There was one arrival at the prison which I was rather 
pleased to see — Ahmed Abd-el-Maajid, of Berber, a 
great supporter of the Mahdi and Khaleefa, and one 
of the bitterest enemies of Christians and Europeans. 
He was, for the Soudan, well educated, and he was 
also rich, and had much influence, but his vanity got 
the better of him. He gave evidence of his wealth in 
the richness of his dress and luxurious living, and this 
had been reported to the Khaleefa, but as yet Maajid 
had not accepted any of the Khaleefa's pressing invita- 
tions to pay him a visit to Omdurman. Maajid made 
up his mind to marry another wife — a young and pretty 
one ; preparations for the marriage ceremonies, and the 
feastings which accompany it, were made on a large 
and lavish scale. The Mahdi had fixed ten dollars as 
the sum to be paid to the parents of the virgin upon 
her marriage ; but Maajid paid one thousand, and this 
scouting of the Mahdi's orders coming to the ears 
of the Khaleefa, he sent off a party to Berber with 
instructions to bring Maajid and his bride back with 



THROWN INTO PRISON 



37 



them. This party arrived at Berber while the festivi- 
ties were still going on, and Maajid could not refuse 
the Khaleefa' s invitation this time. When he arrived 
at Omdurman, he was, with his bride, who was reputed 
to be the most beautiful woman ever seen in the Soudan, 
hurried before the Khaleefa and the Kadi. The 
latter, having his brief ready, accused Maajid of having 
broken the rules as laid down by the Mahdi, and also 
of having detained moneys which should have been sent 
to the Beit-el- Mai, as was proved by his having so 
much money when the coffers of the Beit-el-Mal were 
empty. His property was confiscated and sent to the 
Beit-el-Mal ; his bride was taken possession of by the 
Khaleefa, and Maajid himself sent to prison, where he 
spent six months, mainly occupied in cursing the face 
of his bride, as it was this that had brought him to 
grief. At the end of the six months, he was released 
and sent back to Berber " educated," with a strong 
recommendation from the Khaleefa not to be so osten- 
tatious with his wealth in future. The Khaleefa kept 
Maajid's money — and also his bride. It was this same 
Maajid, who, after Slatin's escape, ferreted out the 
people in Berber who had assisted Slatin's guides, and 
had them sent to the White Nile, where those who did 
not die on the journey there died later. 

Those I have mentioned above were what I might 
call the better class of prisoners, with whom I mainly 
associated during my first two years in prison ; the 
remainder were slaves, thieves, ordinary criminals, 
debtors, murderers, etc. 

When I had recovered a little from my fever, I 



88 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



was placed upon a camel, and paraded past the huts, 
rukoobas, and zareebas, which at that time constituted 
the town of Omdurman. A number of Hadendowas 
had come in to tender their submission to the Khaleefa; 
and he had seized the occasion to exhibit me to the 
" faithful " as the great Pasha sent to conquer from him 
the Western Soudan, and to impress the Hadendowas. 
A halt was made at the hut of the Emir Said Moham- 
mad Taher, a relative of the Mahdi, who, after relating 
his version of the death of Hicks Pasha, and the 
destruction of his army, both of which events had, 
according to him, been brought about through the 
agency of angels sent by the Prophet for the purpose, 
gave me a long lecture on Mahdieh, at the end of 
which he asked me my opinion of it. I told him that 
if he wished for a few lessons himself on religion, and 
as to how the God I prayed to dealt with His faithful, 
and the means His teachers in Europe employed for 
converting people and making them religious, I should 
be pleased to give him a few. The reply angered him, 
and another batch of prisoners were, by his orders, told 
off to lecture me the whole day long on Mahdieh. 
While quite ready to talk to them about the Moham- 
medan religion as propounded in the Quoran, I would 
not believe in the mission of the Mahdi or his new 
religion. When Taher asked what progress I had 
made in my " education," he was told that I would 
make none in Mahdieh, but was ready to become a 
Mohammedan. I knew perfectly well what an out-and- 
out acceptance of Mahdieh meant — my release, but 
only to be put in charge of some troops, and, as I had 



THROWN INTO PRISON 



S 9 



fought with the British against the Mahdists, I had no 
wish to be caught in the dervish ranks, fighting against 
them, or be found dead on the field, after the fight, in 
the garb of a dervish, and pierced by a British bullet. 

Taher was not pleased, and reported my insubordina- 
tion to the Khaleefa. It was probably on my fifteenth 
day that, accompanied by the Hadendowas, who had 
come in to make their submission, I was taken by 
steamer to Khartoum, in order that I might be " im- 
pressed" with the power of the Khaleefa and the truth 
of Mahdieh. We were first taken to Gordon's old 
palace, where Khaleel Hassanein, acting as the Mahdist 
governor of the town, and at the same time director of 
the arsenal, received us, and gave us food. We were 
taken through the rooms, then dismantled, and shown 
at the head of the stairs what we were told were the 
bloodstains of Gordon. After this, we were placed 
on donkeys, and taken round the fortifications, while 
our <4 instructors " in Mahdieh, pointing to the skeletons 
and dried bodies lying about, gave us word pictures in 
advance of how the fortifications of Wadi Haifa and 
Cairo would look after the Khaleefa, assisted by the 
angels, had attacked them. It was a melancholy 
journey for me ; and I am not ashamed to say that as 
my thoughts flew back to that day at Kirbekan, when, 
full of hopes, we pictured to ourselves the rescue of 
Gordon, fortifications and skeletons grew dimmed and 
blurred, and finally were lost to view, as a hot tear 
fell upon the back of my hand. 

Taken back to prison, I became worse ; the weight 
of the chains and anklets dragging on me as I rode, 



9° A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

and the chafing of the skin, set up an irritation, and 
the filth and dirt of the prison soon contributed to the 
formation of large ulcers. It was while lying down in 
the shade one morning, unable to move, at the time 
of the great Bairam feast, that two camel men rode 
into the prison enclosure, and, making one of the camels 
kneel down near me, ordered me at once to mount, as 
the Khaleefa had sent for me. The other prisoners 
crowded round and bade me good-bye, Mahmoud Wad 
Said telling me to pull myself together, and to act as 
I did " when they tried to burst your head with the 
ombeyehs." There was a grand parade of the troops 
that day, and no one but believed that I was to be 
executed in front of them. 

The two men could tell us nothing but that the 
Khaleefa had sent for me, and, living or dead, 
they were bound to take me. I was lifted on to 
the camel, and taken off to the parade-ground 
outside the town. The long, swinging stride of 
the camel communicated its motions to my chains, 
and by the time I reached the Khaleefa, I was in a 
fainting condition, with the ulcers broken, and their 
contents streaming down the flank of the camel. The 
Khaleefa, noticing this, asked one of the Emirs what 
had happened; although close to him, he would not 
address a word directly to me, though I could hear 
what he said, and he could hear my reply. When 
he heard the reason, he gave orders that the chains 
were to be removed that night, and a lighter set fitted. 
The Khaleefa was surrounded by his Emirs and body- 
guard, and ranged on the plain in front of us was his 



THROWN INTO PRISON 



9i 



great army of horse and camel men, and foot-soldiers. 
I should have been marched past the whole army, but 
before reaching the horsemen, the Khaleefa said to the 
Emir AH Wad Saad, " Tell Abdalla (myself) that he has 
only seen a quarter of the army, and let him be brought 
for the parade to-morrow." 

The prisoners were astonished to see me return 
alive that evening, and still more astonished at the 
orders given to Idris-es-Saier to remove my chains 
at once, and put on. a lighter set. For once, the 
Khaleefa's orders could not be carried out; the legs 
having swollen so much, the anklets almost buried 
in flesh, could not be brought near enough to the face 
of the anvil to allow of their being struck at, and 
the following day I again attended parade in pretty 
much the same state of collapse as the first. The 
Khaleefa was furious at this ; he had no wish to parade 
before his troops, as an evidence of his power, a man 
who had to be held up on his camel. My gaoler was 
sent to, and asked why he had disobeyed orders. He 
gave as reasons, first, that he had no lighter chains, 
and secondly, that my legs were so swollen that he was 
unable to get at the anklets. The Khaleefa replied 
that they were to be removed that night, and they 
were, but it was a terrible ordeal for me. Before 
leaving the parade-ground, he sent to me Said 
Gumaa's donkey and Slatin's horse, telling me that 
I might ride either of them back to town, as their 
motion would be better for me than the camel, but I 
elected to remain on the camel. 

I had done my best to get near Slatin, to have a 



9 2 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



few words with him, but he was hardly for a moment 
near the Khaleefa's side, galloping from one part of 
the army to another with his orders. Ali Wad Saad, 
on the part of the Khaleefa, asked me what I thought 
of the army ; to which I replied, " You have numbers, 
but not training" — a reply which gave little satis- 
faction to the Khaleefa, who could overhear it without 
having to wait for Saad to repeat it to him. This 
was the last time upon which I saw the Khaleefa, 
but I live in hopes of seeing him once again. 



CHAPTER VIII 



PRISON LIFE 

My first spell in prison was one of four years. After 
nine months the rings and chains were removed from 
my neck, but the fetters I wore continuously — with 
the exception of thirteen days — during the whole of 
my captivity. A day-to-day record of my experiences 
is out of the question, besides being unnecessary, even 
were it possible to give them. I must content myself 
with a general description of the life passed there, and 
give an idea of the day's routine. 

When I reached Omdurman, the prison proper 
consisted of the common cell already mentioned 
("Umm Hagar" — the house of stone), surrounded by 
a large zareeba of thorn trees and branches, and stand- 
ing about six feet high. There were thirty guardians, 
each armed with a " courbag " (rhinoceros-hide whip) 
with which to keep their charges in order. There 
were no sanitary arrangements, not even of the most 
primitive description. All prisoners had to be fed by 
their friends or relatives ; if they had neither they 
starved to death, as the prisoners, charitable as they 
were to each other in the matter of food, had barely 
enough to eat to keep body and soul together, for the 



94 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



best, and greater part of the food sent in, was eaten 
by the guardians. 

At sunrise each morning the door of the common cell 
was opened, and the prisoners were allowed to shuffle 
down to the banks of the Nile, a few yards distant, 
for their ablutions and for water for drinking. After 

o 

this, we assembled for the first prayer of the day, in 
which all had to join. When not working, we had to 
read the Mahdi's " ratib," a description of prayer- 
book, containing extracts from the Quoran with inter- 
polations of the Mahdi. All the faithful were ordered 
to learn this " ratib " off by heart,* and for this pur- 
pose each one had either to purchase a copy or write 
one out. At noon the second prayer was held, 
followed by another mid-time between noon and sun- 
set, and a fourth at sunset. We should have repeated 
the night prayer when the night had set in, but as 
we were driven into the " Umm Hagar" at sunset, the 
time which should have been given to this prayer was 
fully taken up with brawls, fights, and those compre- 
hensive curses of the Arabs, commencing with the 
second person's father, going back for generations, 
and including all the female ancestors. 

It has been found impossible, even in the most 
guarded and disguised language, to insert here a real 
word-picture of a night in the Saier. The scenes 

* The "Ratib " occupied about three-quarters of an hour in recitation, and, by the.Mahdi's orders 
had to be repeated daily by every one after the morning and afternoon prayer ; it ranked in 
importance with the five obligatory daily prayers ordained by the Quoran. It was also looked 
upon as a sort of talisman, and it was given out, after such fights as Toski, Ginniss, and the 
Atbara, that those killed were those who had either not learned the Ratib or had not a copy with 
them. The book was carried in a small leather case suspended from the neck. A number of 
copies were printed on the old Government press, but it was considered more meritorious to 
write out a copy rather than to purchase one, and the Mahdi had hoped that this Ratib would 
eventually become a sort of Quoran accompanied by its volumes of "traditions," hence his 
anxiety that every one should learn to write. 




LEARNING THE MAHDl's RATIB. 



PRISON LIFE 



95 



of bestiality and filthiness, the means employed for 
bringing the most powerful man to his knees with 
a single blow, the nameless crimes committed night 
after night, and year after year, may not be recorded 
in print. At times, and sometimes for weeks in 
succession, from 250 to 280 prisoners were driven 
into that small room ; we were packed in ; there was 
scarcely room to move our arms ; "jibbehs" swarmed 
with insects and parasites which in themselves made 
sleep an impossibility and life a misery. As the heat 
grew more oppressive, and the atmosphere — always 
vile with the ever-present stench of the place — grew 
closer with the perspiring bodies, and with other 
causes, all semblance of human beings was lost. Filth 
was thrown from one side of the room to the other 
by any one who could move his hand for the purpose 
of doing so, and as soon as this disgusting element 
was introduced, the mass, in its efforts to avoid being 
struck with it, swayed from side to side, fought, bit, 
and struggled as far as their packed-in condition would 
allow of, and kicked with their bars and chains the 
shins of those next them, until the scene became one 
that only a Dante might describe. Any prisoner who 
went down on such a night never got up again alive ; 
his cries would not be heard above the pandemonium 
of clanking chains and bars, imprecations and cursings, 
and for any one to attempt to bend down to assist, if 
he did hear, only meant his going under also. In 
the morning, when we were allowed to stream out, 
five and six bodies would be found on the ground 
with the life crushed and trampled out of them. 



96 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Occasionally, when the uproar was greater than 
usual, the guards would open the door, and, standing 
in the doorway, lash at the heads of the prisoners 
with their hide whips. Always when this occurred 
death claimed its five or six victims, crushed and 
trampled to death. I wish I might say that I had 
drawn upon my imagination for what is given above ; 
I can but assure you that it gives but the very faintest 
idea of what really occurred. 

Until we had been set to make bricks and build 
a wall round our prison, our life, in comparison with 
what it was later, was I might say endurable. By 
baksheeshing the guards, we were allowed to go down 
to the river during the day almost as often as we 
pleased ; and these excursions, taken presumably for 
the purpose of ablution and drinking, gave us many 
opportunities of conversing with the townspeople. 
This life I enjoyed but for a few months. A large 
number of prisoners succeeded in escaping. Conse- 
quently the digging of a well for infiltration water to 
supply the prisoners, and the building of a wall round 
the prison were ordered by the Khaleefa to be com- 
pleted as rapidly as possible. 

The prisoners who escaped were mainly slaves, 
and as most slaves were chained to prevent their 
running away from their owners — hundreds going 
about the town fettered — they had little difficulty in 
effecting their escape from prison, and also from 
Omdurman. On being allowed to go to the river to 
wash, they would wade down the bank until they 
came opposite some large crowd of people, and 



PRISON LIFE 



97 



coming on the bank, their chains would excite no 
suspicion, for, as I have already said, hundreds 
similarly fettered were going about the town. Making 
their way to the nearest blacksmith, he would remove 
their chains in a few moments for the sake of obtain- 
ing the iron, which was valuable to him. 

We were not at that time altogether without news ; 
papers published in Egypt were constantly arriving, 
brought by the Khaleefa's spies, who passed regu- 
larly backwards and forwards between Omdurman 
and Cairo, keeping up communications between the 
Khaleefa and some of the more fanatical Moham- 
medans resident at the capital. Since my return I 
have inquired as to an incident which happened on 
the frontier in connection with the army some years 
ago. I shall only relate what we heard, and as given 
out by the Khaleefa and his Emirs. All the English 
officers, according to the report received, had been 
dismissed, and had left with the Sirdar. The English 
soldiers had also been removed from Egypt ; so the 
Khaleefa was jubilant, and looked forward to the near 
future when the Egyptian troops would attempt to 
attack him, and when not a man of them was to be 
left alive. I was to have been a witness of the great 
battles when the angels of Allah were to fight with 
the believers, and assist the Ansar to utterly extermi- 
nate the Turks. While this was still the topic of 
conversation, another messenger arrived to say that 
the trouble had been arranged ; the English officers 
and troops were not leaving, and as the Khaleefa's 
hopes fell, ours rose. 

H 



9 s 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Of all the people whom the Mahdi himself appointed 
to posts, two, and, I believe, two only, retained their 
positions up to the time of the taking of Omdurman. 
One was Khaleel Hassanein, the director of the 
arsenal, and the other Idris es Saier, the gaoler. 
Idris — for he is still living — is a man of the Gawaamah 
tribe, a tribe that the first missionary will have some 
little trouble with, unless he is prepared to revise one 
of the Ten Commandments out of the Pentateuch 
altogether, as the following story connected with my 
gaolers first appearance in the world may indicate. 
Idris's mother had a sister who, tired of single blessed- 
ness, proposed to, and was accepted by, a swain of 
the tribe who was a constant visitor to their hut. 
Idris's mother had also the intention of proposing to 
the same man, and having told her sister this, the 
sister popped the question first, was accepted, and 
then Idris's mother upbraided her after the manner 
of her tribe, which evidently consisted more of actions 
than of words. When the happy swain put in his 
next appearance, Idris's mother, with Idris in her 
arms, asked him how he dare go against the custom 
of her section of the tribe, and accept in marriage a 
girl who had had no children, while she had already 
had two ! " Saier" in the Gawaamah language means 
" custom " and " customary," and Idris was named 
Idris es Saier when, in after years, a satisfactory 
explanation could not be found for his not boasting a 
father. Idris's mother afterwards married and ruled, 
with her legitimate son, Saier's family. When 
appointed as gaoler by the Mahdi, his prison was 



PRISON LIFE 



99 



called " El-Beit-es-Saier" (the house of Saier), which 
later was contracted to " Saier,'' and the name eventu- 
ally replaced the proper word for prison, all prisons 
being called the " Saier," and the head-gaoler, " Saier." 

Idris had been a famous robber and thief, and he 
was never tired of relating his exploits, and then 
winding up by pointing out what Mahdieh had done 
for him, for by his conversion he was now the 
honoured guardian of all thieves, robbers, and mur- 
derers, and there is little doubt but that he had a 
sneaking regard for all such, as a link between himself 
and his earlier days. 

He was superstitious to a degree, and although the 
Mahdi and Khaleefa had strictly forbidden fortune- 
telling and the writing of talismans, Idris followed the 
example of the Khaleefa himself, and regularly con- 
sulted the fortune-tellers, most of his ill-gotten gains 
going to them in fees. He had had made twenty- 
five to thirty boards of hard wood, about eighteen to 
twenty inches square, and on these he had written 
daily, a Sourah from the Quoran. The ink with 
which the Sourahs were written was a mixture of 
wood-soot — or lamp-black, when that could be obtained 
— gum arabic, some perfume, and water. As soon as 
the writing was finished, Idris would, after carefully 
washing his hands, take a small vessel holding about 
two teacups of water, and carefully wash off the 
writing, allowing the water to drip back into the 
vessel ; not a drop was to be spilled oh the ground, 
otherwise the writing would have to be done over 
again, for the name Allah, and many of His attributes, 
LOFC. 



100 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



were then in the solution. Having washed the board 
clean, caught every drop of water, and then drunk it, 
he would come to us, and deliver himself of the follow- 
ing harangue, and as we heard it two or three times 
a week for years, I have an almost verbatim recol- 
lection of it. 

" I am a born thief and robber ; my people killed 
many on the roads, and robbed them of their pro- 
perty ; I drank as no one else could, and I did every- 
thing possible against rule and religion. The Mahdi 
then came and taught me to pray and leave other 
people's property alone." (This last always raised 
a bitter smile from his hearers, as he used to torture 
us to deliver up for "the Khaleefa" any small coin 
or article of value we might come into possession of.) 
" How I have to thank the Mahdi for having made 
me a good, holy, and new man, and he will at the 
Day of Judgment be my witness, and take me with 
his ansars to heaven. Think what I have been, and 
see what I am now ! I have been worse than any of 
you. If you stole anything, you stole when you were 
with the Government, and you only did what the 
Government and every one else did, you had authority 
to do so. I was worse than you, I had no authority. 
God has pardoned me, and will also pardon you if 
you repent and give to the Beit-el-Mal what you have 
taken from the poor, for there are many poor now in 
the town crying for food, and there is no money in 
the Beit-el-Mal to purchase any. I have given all 
my money in charity, and my wives and children 
are crying for food. I have no boats to bring me 



PRISON LIFE 



101 



merchandise, and I have no land to cultivate to grow 
dourra" (Sorghum, a grain in the Soudan, which takes 
the place of our wheat). " I am a prisoner as you 
are, and the pay I get is not sufficient to feed my 
family. Yesterday there was no dourra in my house 
to feed my children, they had to lie down hungry, 
and I thank God for His grace in supporting me 
through these trials for which I shall be rewarded in 
the next world. I am going to see my starving 
children now, and then I shall pray to God, and ask 
him to release you if you repent, and turn the 
Khaleefa s heart to you. The Khaleefa knows every- 
thing you do, and sees you all the day, for ' El Nebbi 
Khiddr ' is his eyes and ears, and El Nebbi Khiddr 
not only sees and hears what you are doing and 
saying, but sees what your thoughts are." 

After this, all but myself used to rise and kiss his 
hands ; I never did so. At the end of the first 
harangue he gave in my presence, and at the end of 
his harangues for weeks later, he would continue : — 
" And now you man from the bad world, you under- 
stand Arabic well. The Khaleefa has told me to 
instruct you in the true religion ; your fellow-prisoners 
will tell you how Hicks Pasha was, with all his army, 
killed by the angels ; not a single shot was fired, or a 
spear thrown, by the Ansar ; the spears flew from 
their hands, and, guided by the angels, pierced the 
breasts of the unbelievers, and burned up their bodies. 
God is great. You will soon learn that you are 
mistaken, and that all your world is wrong ; there is 
no religion but that of the Mahdi. How happy you 



io2 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



should be to have lived in his time and entered into 
the company of the Ansar. God now loves you ; it 
is He who has brought you to us, and with the 
Khaleefa's blessing you will yet be numbered with 
the Ansar, and you will fight against the unbelievers 
and Turks as other converts have done. You have 
a strong mind, and the Khaleefa therefore has not a 
bad opinion of you. Thank him for his mercy that 
he did not kill you. Be converted, and I shall be 
pleased and proud of you, and be as your father. 
You others, you have seen the Mahdi and the 
Khaleefa and their dealings ; tell him of them. You 
Hamad el Nil, you are a learned man, and know more 
of religion than I do ; make Abdalla know who God 
is, and who is His prophet." 

At the end of my first lecture, Abou Jinn asked me 
how much money I had. I inquired why. He 
replied, " Do you not understand ? The Saier wants 
some money from you." I told him of the money 
Hasseena had, and which the Saier was taking care 
of, on which he smiled and told me that the Saier 
would not take the money himself, but he would 
compel me to give it to him for his " starving 
children." A few days later I was sent for to hear 
the Saier hold forth again, and on this occasion he 
finished up by saying that some of us must have 
done something wrong. The Nebbi Khiddr had re- 
ported it to the Khaleefa, who had in consequence 
ordered him to add more chains to our feet, but 
that we were to submit to this without bad feelings 
against the Khaleefa and him. If we repented, the 



IDRIS-ES-SAIER. 



\ 



PRISON LIFE 103 

Nebbi Khiddr would report it, and the Khaleefa, as 
he was full of grace, would soon order the chains to 
be removed again. All the principal prisoners, with 
the exception of myself, were then marched to the 
anvil, and had their chains hammered on. I was 
spared, as, after the first lecture, I had, on Abou Jinn's 
advice, sent word to the Saier to take fifteen of my 
dollars for his " starving children." We prisoners 
held a conference, and it was decided to present more 
moneys. It took us two days to scrape together the 
requisite sum — about fifty dollars — to which I added 
seventeen of mine. This had the happy result of not 
only removing the extra chains of the prisoners, but 
Hasseena's also. The Saier called us together, gave 
us a homily on repentance and good behaviour, and 
told us to continue in the same path, as it was evi- 
dently looked upon with approval by the Nebbi 
Khiddr* 

But this Nebbi Khiddr was never satisfied for long 
with our conduct. Every month he had something 
to report to the " Khaleefa," and just as regularly we 
were given extra chains, until a few dollars, entrusted 
to Idris for the poor, had sent him to the Khaleefa 
with a favourable report. All these ill-gotten moneys, 
as I have said, went to soothsayers, fortune-tellers, 
and talisman writers, in whose absolute power the 

* The Nebbi Khiddr is a mythical character in Islam. Sects are divided as to whether he is 
a prophet or not. _ His name does not appear in the Quoran. By some of the old writers he is 
made the companion of Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Having drunk of the waters of the Fountain 
of Life, he is believed by some to be ever present at one of the holy places. His exact where- 
abouts and his attributes have never been defined. The Mahdi killed two birds with one stone 
by appropriating this unclaimed prophet to himself ; first, his supposed presence made Omdurman 
a holy place, as the Nebbi only appeared at holy places, and then, by investing him with the 
powers as related by Idris es Saier, he was able to impress the more ignorant of his followers of 
his — the Khaleefa's — omniscience and omnipresence through the Nebbi Khiddr's agency. The 
Mahdi laying claim to this prophet and attributing to him the powers he did, raised in the minds 
of.Hamad-el-Nil and others their first sujpicions as to the Mahdi and his mission. 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Saier was, though part went in baksheesh to the 
servants and counsellors of the Khaleefa, whom 
the Saier had to keep in funds in order to retain his 
place. 

The Saier knew very well that not a single one of 
us believed in this Nebbi Khiddr business, but as on 
the outside of the circle of the principal prisoners — 
and they were the only ones from whom money could 
be squeezed — were always gathered a number of 
the ignorant and, therefore, more fanatical of the 
Khaleefa's adherents, he had invented this tale, 
which he gave year after year without the slightest 
variation in words, in order to hoodwink them and 
prevent any tales reaching the Khaleefa as to the 
sums " presented " by the prisoners. 



CHAPTER IX 



MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE 



It was during my first months in prison that Ahmed 
Nur ed Din of the Kabbabish succeeded in getting 
into prison, in the hope of effecting my escape. I had 
for some years had dealings with Nur ed Din in con- 
nection with the Intelligence Department, and also 
the caravan trade. When I left Wadi Haifa with 
Saleh's caravan, Nur ed Din was then at Salens camp 
with messages to him from the Government. On his 
return to Wadi Haifa, he heard of what had happened, 
and coming at once to Omdurman, he sent a message 
by my servant that he had come for me. All his 
applications to get into the prison being refused by the 
guards, and fearing to make an application to Idris es 
Saier or the Mehkemmeh, he arranged with a friend to 
have a petty quarrel in the market-place ; his friend 
hurried him before the Kadi, and Nur ed Din was 
ordered into prison. On seeing me walk towards him 
as he entered, as I did not know then that he came as 
a prisoner, he gave me a " hooss," the Soudan equiva- 
lent for our " ssh " (silence), and walked off in another 
direction. Later in the day, and when we were being 



io6 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



marshalled to be driven into the common cell, he came 
next to me, and whispered, " I have come for you ; be 
careful ; keep your eyes open ; try and obtain per- 
mission to sleep outside the Umm Hagar." Two 
weeks elapsed before we had another opportunity of 
exchanging a few words, but in the interval Nur ed 
Din was ingratiating himself with the prisoners who 
associated with me, and gradually allowing his curiosity 
to speak to the " white kaffir " to be evident. It was 
necessary for him to act in this cautious manner in 
order to avert suspicion, and another week passed after 
his introduction to our little circle, before he dare seize 
an opportunity to consult me about his health and 
numerous ailments — which was his explanation when 
questioned about our long conversation together. 

It was a strange story he had to tell. On meeting 
Gabou, Gabou at once commenced to talk to him 
about some double dealings which he proposed with 
both dervishes and Government. Nur ed Din was 
suspicious, and did not fall in with the proposals ; this 
then left Gabou at the mercy of Nur ed Din, and the 
former picked a quarrel, during which Nur ed Din 
accused Gabou of the betrayal of the caravan to Saleh. 
Others of the Kabbabish were already looking askance 
at Gabou, and wondering whether, if the truth once 
came out, they too would not be punished as con- 
spirators. Gabou was, they believed, then engaged 
upon some plot which would render them harmless as 
regards himself should they make a report against him 
to the Government, and in self-preservation they held 
a conference with Nur ed Din. It was proposed that 



MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE 107 

some one, for the honour of the tribe, should try and 
effect my release or escape from Omdurman, while, as 
will have been seen, there was also the element of 
self-interest in the matter. There was now a feud 
between Gabou and Nur ed Din, and the latter 
volunteered to undertake the risk of the journey to 
Omdurman. 

His plan, when he saw that there was not the 
slightest hope of my being released from prison, 
was a desperate one, and we ran every chance of 
being killed in the attempt to escape, but this risk I 
was quite willing to take. I knew Nur ed Din would 
make no mistakes. It was not as if he was actuated 
by avarice in assisting me ; but being engaged in a 
death-feud, he sought every means to be the one left 
alive, and he knew that if he could conduct me to 
VVadi Haifa, Gabou would soon decorate a scaffold or 
be shot out of hand. 

Nur ed Din, through the services of one of his 
party, a boy whom he had brought with him, and who 
came into the prison daily as Nur ed Din's food 
servant, first arranged for relays of camels, then for 
the purchase of rifles and ammunition, which were 
buried in the desert a short distance from Omdur- 
man. These preparations being complete, six of the 
ten men at his first relay station were sent for to cut 
a hole through the wall of the prison nearest the Nile, 
and this they were to do on the night we sent a message 
to them or gave a signal, one of the men being always 
near the bank, close to the selected part of the wall. 
Final instructions were given on hearing that the 



io8 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



camels were ready and well provided with water. 
After creeping through the aperture, we were to make 
our way to the river, dragging an old fishing-net 
behind us ; rags were to be bound round the chains 
to deaden their rattling ; this part of the scheme was 
to hide my chains, and prevent their clanging being 
heard. On passing the last of the huts, we were to 
leave the river, and, mounting the camels, we were 
to travel as fast as the camels would go, for twelve 
hours direct west, where we would pick up the first 
relay. We had sent the boy out with a message to 
our people to procure three revolvers and ammuni- 
tion. Nur ed Din and I were to take one each for 
use in case necessity arose before we could reach 
the buried rifles ; the other one of the men was to 
take, and, if our flight was at once discovered, he was 
to fire towards a boat which had been taken to the 
opposite bank, and swear that we had escaped by its 
means. This would put our pursuers on the wrong 
scent for some time. One revolver and seventeen 
cartridges only could be found then, and Nur ed Din 
decided on waiting a few days until others could be 
obtained. 

Whilst these were being searched for, Nur ed 
Din became feverish, and to my horror I saw 
all the symptoms of typhus fever developing. This 
fever had been named Umm Sabbah (seven), as it 
invariably carried off its victims in seven days. It 
may be guessed how anxiously and carefully I nursed 
Nur ed Din, and how Hasseena was kept busy the 
whole day brewing from tamarinds, dates, and roots, 



MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE 



cooling draughts to allay his fever. He might have 
recovered, had he not kept himself excited over the fear 
of losing his vengeance on Gabou, but he gradually 
sank and died. 

I was locked up in the Umm Hagar on the night 
of his death, and the fever was then taking hold 
of me ; two days later I was senseless, and of course 
helpless. Hasseena, with two boys, used to carry 
me about from shade to shade as the sun travelled, 
but my neck-chain dragged, and sometimes tripped 
one or the other up, and then it was that orders 
were given to remove it. Hasseena had been told 
that the best remedy for me was a description of 
vegetable marrow soaked in salt water ; the water was 
drunk and the marrow eaten as the patient recovered. 
The purgative properties of this medicine might suit 
Soudan constitutions, and it evidently suited mine at 
the time, but I should warn any of my readers, should 
they be so unfortunate as to contract this fever, against 
attempting the remedy. When the decoction has 
acted sufficiently, the mouth is crammed with butter, 
which to the throat, at this stage of the "cure," feels 
like boiling oil, and you experience all the sensations 
of internal scalding. The next operation is to briskly 
rub the whole body, and then anoint it with butter or 
oil — butter by preference. The patient has nothing to 
say about his treatment — he is helpless ; every bit of 
strength and will has left him, and when he has been 
rolled up in old camel-cloths and " sweated," weakness 
hardly expresses the condition he has arrived at. It 
was on the thirteenth day of my attack that I reached 



no A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



the final stage of my treatment, and then I fell asleep, 
waking some hours later with a clear head and all my 
faculties about me, though I was then but a living 
skeleton. 

The Khaleefa, hearing of my condition, thought 
it a favourable opportunity for me to receive a few 
more lessons in Mahdieh, and my period of conva- 
lescence was much prolonged owing to the worry and 
annoyance which these teachers of Mahdieh were to 
me. Kadi Hanafi, one of Slatin's old Kadis, then im- 
prisoned with me owing to his open avowal that the 
justice and the sentences given by the Mehkemmeh 
(religious courts) were against the teachings of the 
Ouoran, told me that it was a mistake on my part so 
openly to defy the . Khaleefa, and that it would be more 
u politique M to submit as had Slatin, who had now his 
house, wives, slaves, horses and donkeys, and culti- 
vated land outside the city. But in my then condition, 
a little procession, for which my dead body would be 
the reason, was much more to my liking, and I did not 
care in what shape death came, provided that it did 
come. 

Hanafi used up all his arguments in trying to per- 
suade me to become a good Muslim. Dilating on 
the power of the Khaleefa and my impotence, he 
pointed to my chains, then weighing about forty pounds, 
and said that the Khaleefa would certainly torture me 
with them until I submitted to become a good Muslim. 
To this last argument I replied that if I did say I 
would be converted, the Khaleefa, as soon as he heard 
of it, would make me proclaim my conversion publicly, 



MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE 



and just as certainly behead me immediately after- 
wards, to prevent my slipping back into Christianity. 
Hanafi believed that the Khaleefa would still let me 
live after embracing- the Mohammedan faith in the 
hope of my accepting the Mahdieh ; he failed though 
to convert me, and the Khaleefa, hearing of the result, 
and not believing that Hanafi had done all that he 
might have done with his arguments, for this and other 
reasons sent him later as a convict to Gebel Ragaf, 
near Lado, the convict station of the Soudan. 

By the time I had gained sufficient strength to 
attempt the flight, the men engaged had lost heart, 
and there was no one to lead them. Nur ed Din was 
dead, and as they only came into the thing for the 
money they were to receive, and the dollars were not 
then forthcoming, they decided not to run any risk, 
disbanded the camel-posts, and scattered to their 
various homes. 

How many hundreds of times have I regretted since 
that I did not take Nur ed Din's advice and escape 
at the time, leaving him behind. As he said, there 
was no reason to be afraid that he would lose his head, 
as his being so ill and also his being left behind would 
prevent suspicion being directed towards him. During 
my twelve years' captivity, this, my first chance of 
escape, risky and desperate as it was, was the only one 
which had in it a real element of success, for my 
conductor in saving me was to save himself. 

As is customary in all oriental prisons, the prisoners 
in the Saier had either to purchase their own food, or 
their friends and relatives had to send it into the 



112 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



prison for them ; failing money, friends and relatives, 
the prisoners starved to death. I have already said 
that the best and greater part of the food sent to 
the prison gates was appropriated by the gaolers, that 
is to say, after Idris es Saier had seen to the wants 
of his " starving children " and numerous household 
first. Idris, even during the worst period of the 
famine, did not lose flesh ; he was always the same 
tall, stout, flat-nosed black, both when I first saw him 
on May 10, 1887, and when I last saw him in 
September, 1898. Nor was Idris quite so bad as he 
had been painted ; he would often — when the Nebbi 
Khiddr tale had had the desired effect in repentance, 
or when he was in a good humour after a bout of 
marrissa drinking — go out of his way to do his 
prisoners small kindnesses, such as the removal of 
extra chains, and giving permission to sleep in the 
open ; but the Nebbi Khiddr institution left him so 
much at the mercy of the Khaleefa's immediate 
attendants, that his periods of good humour were, in 
consequence, of very short duration. Some day, if 
I return to the Soudan, or Idris pays a visit to 
civilization, I may learn from him whom I have to 
thank for a few of the unnecessary hardships inflicted 
upon me. 

It might be asked why we, knowing that the guards 
would purloin the greater part of the food sent in, did 
not arrange for a larger quantity to be sent. There are 
two reasons, and the first is the least of the two : the 
guards knew very well what was the minimum amount 
of food to keep us alive, and just that quantity of food 



MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE 113 

would be allowed to pass the portals of the Saier. 
The second reason was, that the sight of more or 
better food being brought to a prisoner proved one of 
two things : either the prisoner himself had received 
some money, or his friends had, and the following day 
the time-worn Nebbi Khiddr tale, properly translated, 
meant chains until more dollars were forthcoming. 
Under such circumstances, the unlucky offender 
against Saier politics would be called upon by the 
other mulcted prisoners to make good the money 
they had been bled of, for the Saier was most 
impartial in the matter of chains, and, certain of 
always getting the proper victim in the end, in- 
variably loaded a dozen or so with extra chains, and 
ordered all into the Umm Hagar. An attenuated 
and burned chicken, or pigeon, cost a few dollars in 
repentance, and also the wearing of extra chains and 
the horrors of the Umm Hagar for nights, for it was 
advisable to keep Idris waiting some days for an 
evidence of repentance, so that he should believe, and 
the Khaleefa's attendants believe also, that some little 
difficulty had been experienced in collecting the few 
dollars you had to pay. 

Our usual food was " Asseeda," the Soudan dourra 
(sorghum), roughly pounded moist, and mixed into a 
thick paste, feeling and tasting to the palate like saw- 
dust. It was not a very nourishing dish, but it was 
a heavy one, and stayed the pangs and gnawings of 
hunger. A flavour might be imparted by allowing a 
quantity to stand for a day or two until fermentation 
set in. Occasionally, but only occasionally, a sauce 

1 



ii4 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



made from the pounded seed of the Baamia hybiscus, 
and called " Mulakh," could be obtained, and this, 
with the fermented asseeda, made a veritable banquet. 
Friends in the town sent us, when they could either 
afford or obtain it, a little wheaten bread, a bit of 
cheese or butter, or a few pinches of coffee. 

Amongst the many captives in Omdurman who 
did so much for me stands out prominently Father 
Ohrwalder, the old Greek lady, Catarina — who was a 
ministering- angel alike to prisoners and captives- 
Mr. Tramba and his wife Victoria, Nahoum Abbajee, 
and Youssef Jebaalee. Surely the recording angel 
has placed to the right side of the account the little 
deceptions practised by Father Ohrwalder to gain 
access to the prison, when the few piastres of baksheesh 
he could afford were not sufficient to satisfy the rapacity 
of the guards, in order to bring me some little dainty, 
when, God knows, he was bringing me the lion's share 
of what he was in absolute need of himself. At one 
time he would present himself at the gates as being 
" Iyyan Khaalas" (sick unto death), and, of course, 
wished to see me once again before his dissolution. 
At another time it would be that he had heard / was 
dying, then, of course, he wished to see me ; and the 
changes would be rung by his coming in on the pre- 
text of wishing to see some other prisoner. With 
bowed head and bent back, exaggerating the weak 
state he was then in, he would crawl towards me, 
dragging one foot after the other, and, reaching me, 
would sit down on the ground and sway his body to 
and fro — a little pantomime which allowed of his 




CATARINA. 



1 



MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAFE 115 

surreptitiously passing to me the dainties he had 
brought in the old leather bag slung from his left 
shoulder. Time after time he was turned away from 
the gates, and this, too, after having paid the bak- 
sheesh ; but his persistence secured his seeing me 
every one or two months during my first three years 
in prison, and the scraps of news he brought from the 
outside world — news to both of us, though a year or 
two old — gave me something to think of and turn over 
in my brain until his next visit. Death, as I told 
Father Ohrwalder, I did not fear, but my great fear 
was insanity. 

Often and often, when allowed to sleep in the 
open air at night-time, instead of experiencing all 
the horrors of a night in the common cell, the 
cool night-air would send me off into a sound sleep, 
from which I would start up from some confused 
dream of old days, and, looking up to the sky, would 
wonder to myself, half awake and half asleep, which 
was the dream and which the reality, the old loved 
scenes, or the prison of es-Saier at Omdurman. I 
would for some moments be afraid to look round at 
the men chained on each side of me, and when I 
mustered up courage to do so, and felt the weight of my 
irons and the heavy chain across my legs, which bound 
our gang of fifty or sixty together, I would speculate 
on how long it would be before the slender thread 
holding me between reason and insanity snapped 
under the strain. 

That my reason did not give way during my first 
period of imprisonment I have but to thank Father 



n6 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Ohrwalder and the friends mentioned. Each one 
of them risked his or her comparative freedom, if 
not life, to help me. Even during the worst nights 
in the Umm Hagar, when Hell itself might be 
defied to match such a scene, when Madness and 
Death stalked hand-in-hand amongst the struggling 
mass, and when, jammed in tight with a number of 
the more fanatical prisoners, I fought and struggled, 
bit and kicked, as did they for bare life, the thought 
of having friends in adversity, suffering almost as 
much as I did, kept that slender thread from snapping ; 
but the mental strain caused me most violent head- 
aches and periods of forgetfulness or loss of memory, 
which even now recur at times. But it was during 
the famine that the Christian — more than Christian — 
charity of my friends was put to the severest tests 
and never faltered. Food was at enormous prices, 
but, day after day, Catarina brought her scrap of 
dourra or wheaten bread ; every day Youssef Jebaalee 
sent his loaves of bread, unmindful of how much the 
guards stole, provided that I got a mouthful. 

All the food sent for the prisoners did not, of course, 
reach them ; what little passed the gates of the Saier 
was fought for ; those having longer chains, or bars, 
connecting their anklets stood the best chance in the 
race for food, as they were able to take longer strides. 
Had it been under other circumstances, the scenes 
enacted might have provided endless amusement for 
the onlookers, for they had in them all the elements 
but one of a sack-race and old country sports. Seeing 
thirty or forty living skeletons shuffling, leaping as 



MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE 117 

far as their weight of chains and strength would 
allow, you knew, when one fell, that it was the weak- 
ness caused by starvation which had brought him 
down. There he would lie where he fell, given 
over to despair, whilst those who did reach any mes- 
senger with food, rather than resenting the stripes 
given by the guards with the courbash, would almost 
appear glad of the open wounds these caused, so that 
they might caress the wounds with their hands and 
lick the blood from their fingers. This picture is not 
over- but underdrawn ; but I have been advised to 
leave out minute details and other scenes, as unneces- 
sarily harrowing. 

We heard that cannibalism was being practised 
in the town, but none took place in the prison ; 
in the Saier, when once the despair engendered 
by starvation and cruelty took hold of a prisoner, 
he would lie down and wait for death ; food he 
would never refuse if offered, but if water without 
food was offered, it was refused. Day after day, for 
months, the bodies of eight or ten prisoners, who had 
died of starvation, would be thrown into the Nile, and 
thousands must have died in the Saier. The popula- 
tion of the prison was always kept up owing to the 
hourly arrivals of starving wretches committed there 
for trying to steal food in the market-place, and it was 
from such as these that the fighting for food in the 
prison emanated chiefly. It can be well imagined 
how the most civilized being might be driven to mad- 
ness and desperation, when, as the result of his trying 
to steal a bit of food, maybe for himself, maybe for 



n8 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

a dying child, he is committed to an oriental prison, 
and there, as he is taken to the anvil, the body of the 
last victim to starvation is dragged up to have the 
shackles knocked off only to be fitted on to him. 
Yet this happened not twice, not scores, but hundreds 
of times in the prison of es-Saier during that terrible 
famine. 

After my servant Hasseena had been knocked 
down a number of times and the food she was bring- 
ing me had been devoured by the starving prisoners, 
we hit upon an expedient. Buying a gazelle skin, she 
had this hung from her waist, under her dress, and 
left dangling between her knees ; the food for me was 
placed in this, but Hasseena always carried, as a blind 
or decoy, a little food in her hands. This would be 
pounced upon, when Hasseena, who had a healthy 
pair of lungs, as Wad Nejoumi discovered at his first 
interview with her, would raise the echoes with her 
screams. These gave her a clear path to me, and 
she waited for a favourable opportunity to drop the 
gazelle skin on the ground beside me. 

It must not be thought from the foregoing that 
the prisoners had no feelings for each other, and for 
those worse off in the matter of food than themselves. 
There was more charity shown by those wild fanatics, 
and almost savages, than is often shown in more 
civilized places. Mahmoud Wad Said, so long as his 
little property held out, sold portions of it day after 
day, and had sent into the prison for his poorer fellow- 
prisoners, a large " geddahh " of asseeda and milk, 
night and morning, and this gave thirty to forty 



MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE 



119 



prisoners a meal each day ; others divided with their 
less fortunate friends the little food they received. I 
have seen it stated that my charity to other prisoners 
created a very good impression ; but, then, how could 
I, the only white and Christian in the prison — and, for 
the matter of that, the only avowed Christian in the 
Soudan — not strive to show just a little more self- 
denial and charity and kindness of heart than those 
" fanatics " showed me ? * 

* On reading over the foregoing to Father Ohnvalder, and asking him if he knew of any others 
who had assisted me with food while in prison, he first objected to my giving him any credit for 
what he had done, saying he had done but part of his duty towards me, and, in deference to 
his wishes, I have curtailed the account of his kindnesses towards me. He then expressed surprise 
that the name of Slatin did not figure amongst those of my benefactors, and it is only now that I 
hear from Father Ohrwalder of the risks Slatin ran in trying to help me. As can be well under- 
stood, this is hardly a subject on which, at the present time, I could approach Slatin, as it would 
practically be asking him how many dollars' worth of thanks were due to him. 

On my arrival at Omdurman, it was believed by the Khaleefa, and others, that I was a brother 
of Slatin, and had started for Sheikh Saleh's country with the idea of organizing an expedition to 
attack the Khaleefa and effect Slatin's release ; the latter, in consequence, was looked upon with 
more suspicion than ever, and bad as my position or condition was, his, in a measure, may have 
been worse. People in Omdurman — my servant and the prison barber in particular — gauging 
Slatin's position to a nicety, had little fear or compunction in blackmailing him, day after day, 
after his first contribution to my sustenance, for more money and food, and in each instance it was 
asked for in my name. Others doubtless did the same, and poor Slatin, as he was then, must have 
been robbed right and left, his robbers perfectly secure in the conviction that even, should he dis- 
cover their trick, he would be powerless to punish them, for had he attempted to do so, he would 
have placed his head in a noose for disobeying the Khaleefa' s orders, which were that he was 
never to speak to, or have any dealings with me. It is the least that I can do here to place the 
matter on record in connection with my experience, and leave Slatin to await the appearance of 
this in print to learn that my heartfelt thanks go out to him, while, at the same time, the world 
will better understand from the foregoing the difficulties of Slatin's position with the Khaleefa. 



CHAPTER X 

PRISON JUSTICE 

What I have written previously concerning the 
Nebbi Khiddr history will, in the following notes 
of prison life, assist the reader in better under- 
standing how such mutual and transparent deceptions 
might be practised by the Khaleefa and the gaolers 
as are related here. It will be remembered that 
the Khaleefa, following the example of the Mahdi, 
laid claim to the Nebbi Khiddr as his prophet or 
constant messenger — a sort of modern Mercury 
amongst the Soudanese ; hence the mutual, but un- 
acknowledged deceptions which might be practised by 
the Khaleefa and his followers one against the other, 
but with always this proviso : as the Khaleefa had 
the power of life and death, and his spoken word 
was absolute, no one dare, even by suggestion, imply 
that he had in any way deceived or hoodwinked 
Abdullahi, else the Nebbi Khiddr would not have 
rested content until his detractor had been shortened 
by a head. 

When the many escapes from the Saier zareeba 
became of too common gossip to be any longer con- 
cealed, Abdullahi ordered a wall to be built in place 



PRISON JUSTICE 



121 



of the thorn zareeba, and later, to obviate the necessity 
of the prisoners going to the Nile banks for drinking 
water and ablutions, a well was sunk to provide 
infiltration water for the purposes mentioned.* Until 
these works were ordered to be made, the prisoners 
were mainly employed in building mud-brick houses 
for the gaolers ; and when these were finished we had 
to attend to certain of the household duties — the 
tending of children, sheep, goats, and the carrying of 
water from the Nile. Of all the tasks set the 
prisoners, the household duties were the most pleasant, 
or, at all events, the least distasteful. Most of the 
gaolers were able to keep up a large establishment on 
the proceeds of their baksheesh and ill-gotten gains, 
but with a multiplicity of wives or concubines a very 
natural result followed — household bickerings and 
squabbles, in which one wife or concubine was bound 
to come off worst ; and this gave the wide-awake 
prisoner engaged upon household duties his chance. 
He would soon detect which concubine was being 
"put upon," or whom the women-folk were most 
jealous of, and in a few days' time, as a result of his 
attentions in carrying her pots and pans, and bringing 
her water as many times in the day as she wished, he 
would be bemoaning in her sympathetic ears the hard 

* This well was named " Beer-el-Ummarra " (the well of the Emirs). When ordering its 
construction the Khaleefa instructed Idris es Saier to put all the important prisoners on the work, 
as the exercise would do them good. My gang consisted of Ibrahim Wad Adlan, Ajjab Abou 
Jinn, Mohammad Wad Bessir, Mohammad Abou Sinn, AbdallaAbou Sinn, Ali Wad-el-Hadd, 
Ahmed Abd-el-Maajid, Mahmoud Wad Said, Hassan Urn Barak, and the Shereef Khaleel— the 
aristocracy, I might say, of the Soudan. We did little or no work ourselves, we paid the im- 
prisoned slaves for doing it; but whenever Idris es Saier made his appearance he would find 
us all busy. When telling us of the Khaleefa's orders, Idris hinted that it might be advisable 
for us to subscribe amongst ourselves for paid labour, and he would take charge of the money . 
At Wad Adlan's advice, we said we rather liked the idea of having some work to do to keep 
us occupied, Adlan knowing that Idris would keep the money and make us work just the same, 
or else pay over again for another batch of slaves. 



122 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



fate of both of them, and trying to persuade her that 
what she was enduring was far worse than his imprison- 
ment and chains. The old truism that " pity is akin 
to love " obtains equally as well under the dusky 
hide of a Soudanese damsel as under the white skin 
of her European sister, and very soon the pair would 
be maturing plans for an escape and elopement. The 
main difficulty was the removal of the man's chains 
and a rapid flight to some distant village ; but the 
Soudan ladies are not a whit behind in woman's 
resourcefulness face to face with apparent impossi- 
bilities. Failing to arrange for a regular flight, the 
woman would secure some place of hiding in Omdur- 
man itself. She would undertake all the arrange- 
ments, and I never knew of a failure in their plans. 

Each month a list of the prisoners in the Saier, and 
an account of their progress in " education " would 
be submitted to Abdullahi, with recommendations for 
the release of certain prisoners, and each month, coin- 
cident with the preparation of this list, some prisoner 
would be missing from his usual place that night and 
next morning — and for ever afterwards ; and this is 
how Soudan romances were managed. Sheep and 
goats would stray unaccountably. As these accidents 
always happened about sunset, the concubine would 
.set off with the chained prisoner to bring in the 
strayed animals at the precise moment when her lord 
and master was engaged upon his official duties and 
locking up the prisoners in the Umm Hagar. On his 
calling at his house, the temporary absence would 
excite little or no suspicion, but as the hours sped on 



PRISON JUSTICE 



123 



suspicions were aroused, and if on the following morn- 
ing or the same night the sheep and goats found their 
way back unaided, the gaoler's only way out of the 
difficulty was to present a favourable report of the 
conduct of the escaped prisoner, in the hope that his 
release would be ordered by the Khaleefa. To 
acknowledge that he had escaped while employed in 
tending his sheep and goats would be to place the 
gaoler's head or liberty in danger, and the eloping 
couple well knew this. No sooner was the release 
ordered, than the happy couple would present them- 
selves before the Kadi, to be married right off — the 
Soudanese damsel in the possession of a husband, 
with no other wives or concubines to worry her in the 
house, and her husband free of his chains. True, he 
might divorce his wife the same day if he so chose, 
but then his and her object had been gained — they 
were both clear of the gaoler, whom they knew dare 
not trump up any case against them in the hope of 
one or the other being again committed to prison, for, 
once released by the Khaleefa's orders, a prisoner 
might only be recommitted on them. Moreover, if 
one of the two should relate what had actually occurred, 
the gaoler himself, having deceived the Khaleefa with 
his report of good conduct and " education," would 
certainly be sent to prison or to the gallows. 

I was too important a prisoner to make my escape 
at all possible by such happy means as those above 
described. My only hope lay in trusty natives and 
swift camels which would outstrip my pursuers. I 
often envied my fellow-prisoners who exchanged the 



i24 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

bonds of slavery for those of matrimony, for numbers 
of them came to see me after their " release," but I 
shudder to think what might have happened had I 
been released by the Khaleefa' s orders, for, following 
the old adage that a drowning man clutches at a straw, 
I must have promised marriage to dozens of Soudan 
beauties (?) in the event of their doing anything 
towards wheedling their masters or the Khaleefa into 
releasing me, and it is quite certain that, on my 
release, I should have met at the prison-gates a 
clamouring crowd all claiming the honour. 

But I should explain how it was that I came into 
direct contact with the hareems of the gaolers. Having 
studied physiology and medicine at Konigsberg and 
Leipzig, I was often called upon by the natives in 
Upper Egypt, before the place was so well known 
to the travelling public as it is now, and in the 
absence of doctors, to attend them in cases of sickness 
or accident/ My practice, being gratuitous, was a 
large one, and I soon became the " Hakeem Pasha " 
(principal medical officer). My reputation, if it did 
not precede me, at least accompanied me to Omdur- 
man when I was captured, so that I was in constant 
requisition at the gaolers' hareems, paying " profes- 
sional " visits ranging from cases in which the 
Khaleefa was soon to be presented with another 
subject, to the most trivial and sometimes imaginary 
complaints. So long as the women kept ailing, my 
life was rendered endurable, for I was able to sit down 
and chat with them for hours, waiting to see the 
result of concoctions made from, to me, unknown 



PRISON JUSTICE 



herbs and roots, of the properties of which I was 
ignorant ; but the results were always satisfactory. 
The only medicine or chemical I came across of any 
value in the stores of the Beit-el-Mal was perman- 
ganate of potash, and I soon discovered that a Soudan 
constitution necessitated the application of this in 
crystals and not in liquid form. The effects, as may 
be imagined, were rapid, and, though my medical 
readers might be inclined to doubt the statement, the 
results were eminently satisfactory both to the patients 
and myself. 

Occasionally I would be sent for to attend some one 
in the women's prison, which was situated a short 
distance from the Saier of Idris. The women's 
prison consisted of the common cell and a light zareeba, 
through which the curious might gaze on the women 
as they lay stretched on the ground during the day in 
the sun, undergoing their first period of imprisonment. 
The majority of the women prisoners were slaves 
locked up on some pretence or other to prevent their 
escaping. It might be that their master was arranging 
for some trading trip which would occupy him for 
weeks and, maybe, months. The simplest way ot 
preventing his property from running away during his 
absence was to trump up some charge against her, and 
have her locked up, knowing that her release might 
not be obtained until he returned and requested it. 
As in the mean time she would have to be fed at his 
expense, and gave her services free to the household of 
one of the gaolers, he was equally sure that the gaoler 
would not be too anxious to secure her release. 



i 2 6 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Married women were sent to prison on all sorts 
of charges, ranging from suspected conjugal infidelity 
to the delivery of a curtain lecture. The women 
prisoners wore light chains connecting their anklets, 
but their lot was little better than that of the men. A 
charge of infidelity " not proven," as the Scotch have 
it, was followed by imprisonment and the application 
of three hundred stripes with the courbag, and when 
the woman had recovered from these, she would be 
sent into the house of one of the gaolers to be the 
maid- of- all-work for every one there ; she would have 
to grind corn, attend to the children, carry water, and 
be driven as a slave night and day for weeks. A 
Mrs. Caudle or a termagant received from fifty to 
eighty lashes, and she too on recovery would be sent 
into one of the gaolers' hareems to work as hard as her 
possibly innocent and more severely punished com- 
panion in misery. A few weeks of such treatment 
sent the women back home completely cured of the 
faults for which they were sent to prison to be cor- 
rected, besides which the relation of their experiences 
acted as an effective deterrent on budding Mrs. Caudles 
and others. 

The unloading of boats was the hardest work we 
were set to, and we were kept up to the mark by the 
ever-present lash ; we might only be tired and ill 
when we could afford the luxury of paying for the 
complaint, for this labour was the most lucrative task 
our gaolers could set us to ; we had either to work, or 
pay many times the equivalent of our labour. It was 
in connection with the unloading of boats, and this, 



PRISON JUSTICE 



127 



too, when I was slowly recovering from my attack 
of typhus fever after the death of Ahmed Nur ed Din, 
that I received my first flogging. A young gaoler had 
pestered me for money, and as I had none to give him, 
he ordered me to slave at the unloading of the boats. 
The only way of exhibiting a real refusal was to sit 
down upon the ground, which I did, upon which the 
gaoler commenced to drag me towards the gateway of 
the Saier. On this I got upon my feet and knocked 
the gaoler off his. He ran to Idris es Saier, told his 
own tale, and Idris, approaching me, ordered me to 
get up — for I had again sat down — and assist in the 
unloading of the boats. I refused, and accused the 
gaoler of trying to extort monies from me. Upon this 
Idris struck me with his "safarog" (an instrument 
almost the exact counterpart of the Australian 
boomerang, and used by the Soudan tribes for 
precisely similar purposes) ; the blow he gave smashed 
the safarog and stunned me, and while only partly 
conscious I was turned over and condemned to receive 
there and then five hundred lashes. 

Only sixty or seventy, I was told, were inflicted ; the 
remainder were not given, as Idris, seeing that I was 
unconscious, believed that I was dead, and in conse- 
quence received a terrible fright. I was carried to my 
place in the cell, while Idris set about clearing himself 
with the other prisoners, and explaining that it was all 
the work of the young gaoler. Idris knew what it meant 
to him had I been flogged to death, and, believing that 
I would not recover, he, when I did recover, evidently 
made up his mind to pay out the gaoler who was 



128 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



responsible for his fright in the first place, and for his 
servility to the other prisoners at the moment when 
he thought there were good grounds for it. 

His opportunity came some little time later on, when 
the same gaoler invented another excuse for flogging 
me. I had bought from one of the gaolers a small 
mud hut, a few feet square, in the prison enclosure, 
and received permission from Idris es Saier to sleep 
in this at night instead of in the Umm Hagar. This 
young gaoler — and other gaolers as well — accepted 
baksheesh from prisoners to allow them to sleep in 
the open ; and Idris, finding the contributions to 
his " starving children" falling off, suspected the 
reason, and lay in wait. Upon a night when a larger 
number than usual had been allowed to sleep outside 
the Umm Hagar, he suddenly made his appearance 
in the prison enclosure. There was nothing for our 
guardians to do but to pretend that the prisoners had 
been insubordinate, had refused to enter the Umm 
Hagar, and to lay about them with their whips. 
The young gaoler, not aware that I had paid the 
regulation baksheesh to Idris, made straight for my 
hut, dragged me out, and flogged me to the door of 
the common cell, a distance, maybe, of forty or fifty 
yards, but my thick jibbeh prevented the blows from 
telling with much effect as far as regards abrasion of the 
skin ; nevertheless, their weight told on my diminished 
strength, and I again fell ill. The circumstance came 
to the ears of the Khaleefa through Idris, or the 
Nebbi Khiddr, and I had the huge satisfaction of 
seeing my tormentor dismissed from his lucrative post, 



PRISON JUSTICE 



129 



subjected to the two hundred lashes he was sen- 
tenced to receive, and then sent as a prisoner in 
chains to work at the very same boats, which he had 
had me flogged for refusing to assist in unloading. 
This, at the present moment, is the only bit of real 
justice I can remember during my twelve years' 
captivity. 

I have in a former chapter given a slight description 
of flogging as I saw it practised when first captured 
by the dervishes ; but the flogging in the Saier 
was a very different matter. The maximum number 
of stripes ever ordered was a thousand, and this 
number was often actually given, but in every case 
the stripes were given over the clothing. The rules 
of flogging were generally as follows : the first two 
hundred on the back below the region of the lumbar 
vertebrae, the third and fourth hundred on the 
shoulders, and the fifth hundred on the breast. When 
the maximum number of one thousand lashes was 
ordered, they were always given on the same parts as 
those of the first two hundred, and this punishment 
was resorted to for the purpose of extorting con- 
fessions. After eighty or one hundred blows, the 
jibbeh was cut into shreds, and soon became saturated 
with the blood of the victim ; and while the effect of 
the individual blows may not have been as great as 
those from the cat-o'-nine-tails, the number given 
made up in quantity for what might have been lacking 
in quality, as is evidenced by the large numbers who 
died under the castigation or as a result of it later. 

On one occasion an old black soldier of the Egyptian 



130 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

Army, named Mohammad Ajjami, who was employed 
as a runner (a foot-galloper — if I may invent the ex- 
pression — of the Khaleefa on field days), was sent to 
me while in the prison to be cured of the effects of a 
flogging. He had by some means incurred the dis- 
pleasure of Sheikh ed Din, the son of the Khaleefa, 
and by him had been sentenced to receive a public 
flogging, after which he was to be sent to the Saier to 
be " educated." He was carried into the prison to me 
after his flogging. The fleshy part of his back was 
cut into ribbons, and the hip-bones were exposed. For 
six or eight weeks I was constantly employed bathing 
this man's wounds with a dilute solution of carbolic 
acid, the carbolic crystals being sent to me by Sheikh 
ed Din himself for the purpose, for his father, the 
Khaleefa, jealous of his authority, had censured his 
son, telling him, as he constantly told others, that "In 
Usbaiee shareeknee fee mulkee, anna ikktahoo." * 
Ajjami recovered, and often came to see me in prison 
to express his gratitude. Sheikh ed Din himself was 
so pleased at the man's recovery that he begged his 
father to release me, so that I might practise the 
healing art amongst his Ansar, and teach it to others ; 
but the Khaleefa was obdurate, and refused, his 
reasons for refusing to release me being better left to 
be related later by some of my fellow-captives. 

My third flogging was received under the following 
circumstances. Having from Idris es Saier received 
permission to remain in my mud hovel, instead of 

* This expression was always used by the Khaleefa in any discussion. Holding up his 
forefinger, he said Q translation of phrase): " Rather than this finger should be a partner in the 
governing of my realm, I should cut it off." 



PRISON JUSTICE 



spending the nights in the Umm Hagar, and feeling 
secure in my comparative freedom and safe from the 
exactions of the other gaolers, as I had baksheeshed 
Idris well, I firmly refused to be bled any further My 
particular guardian, not daring, after what had 
occurred to my former guardian, to order me into the 
Umm Hagar, went a step further, and refused to allow 
me to leave my mud hut at all for any purpose whatever. 
I insisted upon being allowed to go to the place of 
ablution — about one hundred yards distant — and being 
refused, set off, receiving at every step a blow from 
the courbag. Being heavily chained, I was helpless, 
and could not reach my tormentor, as he could skip 
away from my reach, which was limited to the length 
of the bars connecting my feet, which bars were 
fifteen inches in length. It was on this occasion, night- 
time too, that Idris es Saier paid another surprise 
visit to the prison enclosure to see what number of 
" unauthorized " prisoners were sleeping outside the 
Umm Hagar, and, furious at the number he discovered, 
he ordered all outside, without exception, to be flogged. 

I and fifteen to twenty others received a hundred 
and fifty lashes each — at least, I received this number ; 
others repented by crying out after twenty or thirty 
blows. I alternately clenched my teeth and bit my 
lips to prevent a sound of pain escaping, often as I 
was asked, " Will you not cry out ? Is your head and 
heart still like black iron ? " and the more they re- 
minded me of the courage I was exhibiting, the more 
reason I had for not giving way or breaking down. 
But the mental ordeal was far, far more terrible than 



i 3 2 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



the corporal punishment. There was I, a European, 
a Prussian, a man who had fought with the British 
troops in what transpired to be the " too late " ex- 
pedition for the rescue of Gordon, now in the clutches 
of the tyrant and his myrmidons, whom we had hoped 
to rescue Gordon from ; a white and a Christian — and 
the only professing Christian — chained and helpless, 
being flogged by a black, as much a captive and a 
slave as I was, and yet my superior and master. It is 
impossible for any one not having undergone a similar 
experience to appreciate the mental agonies I endured. 

I may have been self-willed and strong-headed ; I 
may, if you wish, have acted like a fool in my constant 
defiance of the Khaleefa and the tenets of the Mahdi ; 
but now, looking back on those terrible times, I feel 
convinced that had poor Gordon lived, my actions 
would at least have met with his approbation, for the 
outward ceremony or observance of adherence to the 
Mohammedan faith was carried out on me under force, 
after the escape of Rossignoli. Death, in whatever 
form it came, would have come as a welcome visitor 
to me ; but while doing all in my power to exasperate 
my captors to kill me, something — hope, courage, 
a clinging to life, pride in my race, or personal 
vanity in defying them to the end — restrained me 
from taking my own life, though Heaven knows 
that, if ever man had a good excuse for doing so, I 
had. But my conduct so impressed the Khaleefa 
that he told Wad Nejoumi, who asked for my release 
so that 1 might accompany him to Dongola to " open 
up trade," and told many others later, " Neufeld I will 



PRISON JUSTICE 



133 



not release, but I will not kill him." Invariably, in 
speaking of me to others, as I was still unconverted, 
the Khaleefa omitted the name "Abdalla" which I 
had been given, and spoke of me as " Nofal " — the 
Arabic pronunciation of Neufeld. 



CHAPTER XI 



A SERIOUS DILEMMA 

As I write, there lie before me three successive 
paragraphs culled from a recent edition of a London 
paper. These paragraphs were intended to be, and 
doubtless were, amusing to their readers, but they 
contain inaccuracies. I have ascertained that one 
misstatement owes its origin to a report drawn up in 
connection with the guide's account of the successful 
escape of Father Rossignoli. The facts connected with 
that flight, and my reported refusal to escape when 
the opportunity (?) offered, find their place later in 
my narrative. For the moment I shall content myself 
with but one of the paragraphs, and fill in the details 
which, while not detracting from the humorous 
element introduced, will show that the episode referred 
to had somewhat of a pathetic, if not tragic, vein in it. 
This may have been lost sight of owing to the tale 
being recorded in an office about two thousand miles 
away from the scene of action, and the inaccuracies 
may be accounted for by the fact that the tale was 
told by one of that large class in the East whose 
greatest glory it is, when one of them has by constant 



A SERIOUS DILEMMA 



135 



practice attained a certain standard of inventive faculty 
and plausibility, to prove to the world that the race 
of Haroun-el-Rashid's story-tellers is not yet extinct. 
There can be little doubt that the guide and Wakih 
Idris, and maybe others, would be much entertained, 
if not a little surprised, if told that the whole of their 
tales had apparently been believed in. 

On my servant Hasseena being sent into the 
Khaleefa's hareem in May, 1887, she obtained her 
release, or dismissal, by declaring that she was with 
child; she was not. In November, 1888, she cer- 
tainly was, and the fact could not be concealed. 
Hasseena, having been a slave, could not well be 
legally married, so that when dismissed from the 
Khaleefa's hareem, she was sent as my property to the 
hareem of Idris es Saier, where she had, in addition 
to buying and preparing my food, to perform the 
housework and run messages for the women of Idris's 
household. 

Idris I knew had long coveted Hasseena, and her 
being with child appeared to him a favourable oppor- 
tunity of securing her for himself, for under ordinary 
circumstances, the woman being a slave and the child 
being born in his hareem, he could lay claim to the 
paternity, when mother and child would become free, 
the mother ranking now as a wife. He talked the 
matter over with Hasseena, and then sent her to 
interview me. I submitted the case to my friends in 
prison, and they showed that Idris had misread, or 
misunderstood, Surah IV. of the Quoran, which only 
justified his position towards Hasseena in the event 



136 A PRISONER OF THE K HA LEE FA 



of my being a prisoner of war, and he having captured 
Hasseena on the field. Things became still more 
complicated by Hasseena admitting to me that there 
were doubts in her own mind as to the child's paternity. 
Hasseena was of a light copper colour ; Idris was as 
black as the ace of spades. It would only be reason- 
able to expect that the child when born would exhibit 
in the colour of its skin an evidence of its paternity, 
and it was precisely on this account that Hasseena 
wished to defer making any declaration until the 
event came off. If she elected to declare Idris the 
father, and the child at birth gave the lie to her state- 
ment, her life would be in danger ; but before con- 
tinuing the narrative, and detailing the complications 
which Hasseena's condition and her uncertainty on 
a vital point gave rise to — it might be well to refer 
briefly to one of the moral code of laws instituted by 
the Mahdi, as this will help the reader to a better 
understanding of the quandary we were placed in. 

While a man, having already the regulation quota 
of four legal wives, might crowd his hareem with as 
many female slaves and concubines as he could support 
or keep in order, a woman was restricted to the one 
husband or master. All breakings of our seventh 
commandment were, if proved, followed by flogging in 
the case of unmarried women and slaves, and by the 
stoning to death of married women ; but, in the latter 
case, the sentence could not be given, nor the punishment 
inflicted, unless the woman confessed. Very few stonings 
to death took place, and these were in the earlier 
days of Mahdieh, when religious fanaticism held sway. 



A SERIOUS DILEMMA 



i37 



The flogging has already been described. When a 
stoning to death was to take place, a hole was dug 
in the ground, and the woman buried to her neck in 
it. The crowd stood facing the victim, about fifteen 
to twenty yards distant, and on a given signal the 
stoning commenced ; but it is only right to say that 
the Soudanese themselves hated and feared taking 
part in such an execution. None of the stones thrown 
had, singly, the force or weight to cause stunning or 
death, and the horrid spectacle was presented of what 
appeared to be a trunkless head, slightly jerking 
backwards and forwards and from side to side to 
avoid the stones being hurled at it, and this ordeal 
continued for an hour or more. Sometimes a relative 
or friend, under pretence of losing his temper in up- 
braiding or cursing the woman, smashed in her head 
with one of the small axes usually carried by the 
Soudanese, thus putting her at once out of her torture 
and misery. Shortly before sunset, the relatives and 
friends would come out to take away the body and 
give it decent burial, for the soul had fled, purified 
with the woman's blood, to the next world. 

Knowing what would be the result of a confession, 
it will be wondered that any woman ever did confess ; 
the number who did so is, admittedly, small. In 
one of the three cases of stoning to death I know 
of, the confession was extorted by torture, and the 
poor woman preferred the horrible but certain death 
by the time the sun set, to the lingering death she 
was enduring from day to day. Thousands of women 
were charged with the breaking of this particular rule 



13S A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

or commandment of the Mahdi, but almost all the 
charges were made by other women — and this, too, 
out of sheer jealousy, not from any feeling of outraged 
morality. 

I may now proceed with the narration of the quan- 
dary Hasseena had placed us in, herself included. I 
had been kept chained and closely confined for nine- 
teen months, and was under Idris es Saier's particular 
supervision ; Hasseena, during the same period, had 
been a servant in his hareem, and also in his entire 
charge. If I claimed the paternity of the child, the 
probabilities were that Idris would get into trouble with 
the Khaleefa ; if Idris claimed it, his head might be 
in danger, for decapitation or hanging was the punish- 
ment ordered for the male offender, and in all cases 
Hasseena was liable to flogging or stoning to death. 
Again, if I claimed the paternity of the child, and 
there were reasonable grounds after its birth to believe 
that the paternity should be looked for in some other 
direction, and I knew that it should be ; then, while 
Idris would clear himself to the Khaleefa, I should 
have been punished for lying to him, and Hasseena 
would be in the same predicament as before. 

I had inquiries made outside as to Hasseena's 
movements when marketing, and as to those whom 
she associated with, or went to see ; being satisfied, as 
a result of the inquiries, that the expected arrival 
would be a shade lighter in colour than its mother, 
I, acting on the advice of my prison friends, claimed 
the child as mine, thus leaving Idris to get out of the 
thing as best he could. There was, as above indicated, 



A SERIOUS DILEMMA 



i39 



a risk in my claiming the paternity, but it was worth 
while running it. The Khaleefa, so my friends told 
me, would now certainly release me from prison, as 
my wife and child would be a guarantee for my good 
behaviour if released, and also guarantee me against 
any escape, for to try and escape with a woman and 
baby made success very problematical, while the 
woman would certainly hinder me in any attempt to 
escape, when it could only result in the death of 
herself and child. It was for this reason — to hinder 
escape — that the Khaleefa kept his captives well 
supplied with wives, and showed his displeasure very 
plainly if the expected results did not follow. But 
my claiming the paternity did not please Idris, as it 
deprived him of all chance of securing Hasseena for 
himself, and also left him at the mercy of the Khaleefa 
for his neglect of duty in allowing Hasseena to come 
near me, so he empanelled a jury of Soudanese 
matrons to inquire into the affair. 

At the time when Hasseena startled our little 
world with her interesting condition, Omdurman was, 
and had been for some months, almost depleted of its 
male population ; the rumours of an expedition 
(Stanley's, to rescue Emin) had resulted in a consider- 
able force being sent to Equatoria. The army to 
attack Abyssinia had been in the field for months, so 
also had the army which Wad Nejoumi was to lead 
a few months later to its destruction at Toski. 

A number of the ladies empanelled for the jury 
ought not, unless they belonged to the Gawaamah 
tribe, to have been eligible for election, and others, 



i4o A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



under the circumstances, should have avoided pub- 
licity ; but here was an opportunity for them, and 
they were not going to miss it. They came together 
to save themselves — not Hasseena or Idris — hence 
the extraordinary verdict they gave : to the effect that 
it was not only possible for a woman to be with child 
nineteen months — as Hasseena presumably was, but 
for twenty-four months, while some hotly contested 
for an extension of the time to years ! 

Idris had still another card to play ; he averred that 
it was impossible for the child to be mine, and he 
now swore it was not his. Then Hasseena ought to 
be flogged and sent to prison ; but as Idris would be 
entrusted with the flogging himself, it was to be under- 
stood that he was not going to damage his prospective 
property. It was now the turn of those whom I re- 
marked ought not to have been eligible for election to 
the jury ; the tales they told to account for their own 
interesting condition are worthy of the best traditions 
of the " Thousand and One Nights;" but, even if 
written, they would be less fit for translation and 
publication than the originals of the famous tales. 
Idris now appealed to the Kadi, who, after inter- 
viewing the jury, supported their contentions, and 
related the whole story to the Khaleefa, much to his 
amusement and the discomfiture of Idris ; for, while 
graciously sending me his congratulations on the 
coming event, he ordered the unconditional release of 
Hasseena, who went to live in what might be called 
the " Christian " quarter of the town. 

In January the girl-child was born, and named 



A SERIOUS DILEMMA 



141 



" Makkieh " (shackles), a name which appealed to the 
humorous side of the Khaleefa, who, being tickled at the 
idea of the name, in a fit of good-humour, sent word to 
me to ask if I would undertake the manufacture of £un- 
powder if he released me, I unfortunately replied that 
I did not understand the manufacturing- of it, and this 
aroused his suspicions, which did not abate one jot 
when, shortly afterwards, a Bohemian baker, who had 
strayed from Haifa, was taken prisoner, and sent on 
to Omdurman as a captured spy. This man, whom I 
knew only by the name of Joseppi — though he had a 
string of other names, which I have forgotten — was 
a Bohemian by birth and a baker by trade. He was 
not of strong intellect, and what intellect he had, had 
maybe been impaired by a " music madness." From 
the rambling statements he made to me during his 
year's imprisonment, I gather that he had tramped 
Europe as a wandering musician, landing finally 
in Egypt, where he tramped from the Mediterranean 
to the frontier. It is quite evident that instead of 
coppers he received drinks in exchange for his strains, 
and this further added to his mental troubles, though 
the drunkenness he has been charged with was, in my 
opinion, more the result of circumstances and mis- 
fortune than a natural craving for ardent liquors. 

On leaving Wadi Haifa, he had expected to find, as 
he had found in Europe and the part of Egypt he had 
tramped through, villages or towns within the days 
tramp. He had not the slightest idea of what the 
desert was until he found himself in it. After some 
days of wandering, during which he eat pieces of his 



i 4 2 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



worn-out boots in lieu of other food, he struck the 
Nile, and, wandering along, ignorant of the direction 
he was taking, he came upon a party of dervishes, 
whom he tried to communicate with, and after, by 
gesticulations, showing them that he wanted bread or 
food, he commenced to " soothe the savage breast" 
with strains from his violin. They took him prisoner, 
destroyed his instrument, and sent him on to Omdur- 
man as a spy. On arrival there, he was ushered into 
the presence of the Khaleefa, who was undecided 
as to whether he had a madman or an actor to deal 
with, for on dates being brought for Joseppi to eat, 
he threw them about, and then lay flat on his face. 
He was sent to prison and heavily chained ; in the 
process of having his chains and bars fitted, he fainted 
away. 

Joseppi was in my charge for about one year, and 
while being as harmless as a child, he caused me 
endless trouble. During the day he would remain 
perfectly quiet, but at night-time he would insist upon 
singing or humming. As his tunes had neither be- 
ginning nor end, and were composed of notes snatched 
from here and there, we soon tired of it, and Joseppi 
received a light flogging on one occasion for not 
" shutting his mouth" when requested to do so. I 
remonstrated with him after he had been flogged, and 
told him that he should not continue to hum after 
other prisoners had asked him to keep quiet. He 
ruminated over this, and thinking, maybe, at the 
moment that I was taking the part of the others 
against him, he went off to the Saier, and %o\d him 



A SERIO US DILEMMA 



143 



confidentially that I was a great and well-known 
general in Europe, and a few other things. Joseppi 
had an enormous appetite, and was always hungry ; 
he caused me a great deal of trouble during the worst 
days of the famine, when food was so scarce, for after 
sharing my scanty meal, he would wander off and 
pester every group for a scrap of food. Eventually, 
we had to provide three bowls for him ; just when 
our food came in, we handed him his bowls, and thus 
were allowed a few moments' peace. We had finished 
our meal before he had finished his food, so that our 
group, at least, was free of his importunities. He came 
to grief through eating pieces of camel-skin, which the 
gaolers used to sell to the poorer prisoners during the 
famine. 

Fearing that he would die in the prison, I sent 
word to the " Christian " quarter, asking that the 
Khaleefa should be prayed to release Joseppi, which 
was done, and he found congenial employment for a 
time in the bakery of Youssef Sawar. Soon after- 
wards, he borrowed a few dollars here and there for 
the purpose of buying grain at El Fun ; he started off 
dressed in a new jibbeh, carrying his dollars, and a 
well-stocked basket of provisions for his two days' 
journey. At the very moment when Wad Adlan was 
pleading with the Khaleefa to release me from prison, 
so that I could assist him in the work of the Beit-el- 
Mal, a deputation of the captives arrived at the 
door of the house to tell the Khaleefa that Joseppi 
must have escaped, as he should have been back in 
Omdurman some days ago. Turning to Wad Adlan, 



i 4 4 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

the Khaleefa said, " El boomi mahhgaad — Abdulla 
Neufeld ogud ? Khallee ossbur. ,; (" The fool did 
not stop — when he had the chance to escape. Will 
Neufeld ? Let him wait a bit.") This was the 
second time the poor fellow had cost me my liberty. 
There is no doubt that the man was murdered for the 
sake of his food or money, for his remains were found 
later, on the road between Khartoum and El Fun. 



CHAPTER XII 



IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN 

A favourable opportunity here presents itself for 
referring to that little-written-about, and, therefore, 
little-known strange character in Mahdieh — Ibrahim 
Wad Adlan, the Amin Beit-el-Mal. Maybe in no 
one else did he confide as he confided in me while we 
were fellow-prisoners, and maybe he did so only 
because he knew that I was an avowed enemy of 
Mahdieh, that I was at the time defying the Khaleefa 
to do his worst against me, and that my interests lay 
elsewhere than in the Soudan. There was also a 
lurking suspicion that I had been sent up as a 
Government emissary, and that the letter of General 
Stephenson was purposely couched in the language it 
was, so that, if it fell into the hands of the Khaleefa, 
he would be led to believe that I had started upon a 
trading expedition pure and simple. The friendship 
formed during the two or three months, which Adlan 
and I spent as fellow-prisoners, was to end in the not 
least interesting of my experiences, but it also ended 
in a tragedy. 

Wad Adlan, prior to the Mahdist revolt, had been 

L 



146 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



one of the principal and richest merchants in Kordofan. 
His business connections had taken him a number of 
times to Cairo and other parts of Egypt. For intelli- 
gence, and as a man of the world, he was far and away 
superior to all the " great " people who from time to 
time became my fellow-prisoners ; I should be inclined 
to place him on a higher level than the best of the old 
Government officials ; he read and wrote well, and, 
as will be seen later, he was not deficient in certain 
qualities which go far towards making a successful 
Oriental diplomatist. To the end he was loyal to the 
core to the old Government, but he was compelled to 
act a part — and well he acted it. Had there been 
one more Adlan in the Soudan — and many had the 
opportunity of being such — the rule of Abdullahi would 
have ended with the insurrection of Khaleefa Shereef. 
That insurrection just missed being successful, but it 
was through no fault of Adlan. Carefully and secretly 
he had paved the way to it, but his task ended when 
he had paved the way ; it was for others to take 
the goal. 

Adlan was the one man in the Soudan who had 
the courage of his opinions, and expressed them to 
Abdullahi ; he was a man himself, acted as one, and 
despised heartily those who, in his opinion, were 
carrying their obedience to the confines of servility. 
Failing to induce Abdullahi to rule with some little 
semblance of justice and equity, as laid down in the 
Quoran, he set about to undermine his influence and 
power, but he had to carry out his work by subterfuge, 
and single-handed. There were, he told me, a number 



IBRAHIM WAD ADIAN 



147 



of people he would have wished to take into his 
confidence, but some he was afraid might betray him, 
and the others he could not trust with the little 
discretion they could boast of. He feared they might 
unwittingly let slip a few words prematurely, and then 
his and their tongues would be silenced for ever. 

As the director of the Beit-el-Mal, his first care 
was to keep the treasury and granaries full to repletion. 
During the famine this was an impossibility, but some 
grain and money had to be procured from somewhere. 
The poor, and those who had come by their little 
stores honestly, Adlan never made a call upon ; indeed, 
he was the protector of the poor and the Muslimanieh 
(captive Christians). It was Adlan's policy to create 
enemies of Abdullahi, so that was another reason for his 
protecting the poor, who were already bitter enemies 
of their savage ruler. On reporting to Abdullahi the 
depleted condition of the treasury and granaries — and 
Abdullahi was aware that the doors of the Beit-el-Mal 
and Adlan's house were besieged night and day by 
thousands of starving wretches — Adlan would be 
given a verbal order to search for grain and bring it 
into the Beit-el-Mal. This order he would put into 
immediate execution against Abdullahi's particular 
friends and adherents, for the whole of their stores 
were the proceeds of robbery, and the plundering 
and murdering of weaker tribes and people. To all 
remonstrances Adlan would reply that he was carrying 
out Abdullahi's orders, and every one knew that 
disobedience to these, or any attempt to evade 
them, meant summary execution. Occasionally some 



148 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



" strong" man would enter a mild protest to the 
Khaleefa himself, who would feign ignorance of 
having given any general orders to Adlan. Adlan 
would be summoned, but, questioned as to his actions 
in the presence of the complainant, he dare not reply 
that he had but obeyed the general orders given him ; 
he would be obliged to answer in such a way that the 
" strong " man would believe that he had acted upon 
his own initiative. After the audience, the " strong " 
man would follow Adlan to the Beit- el- Mai, and 
demand the return of his grain and dollars ; but Adlan 
had distributed all on the Khaleefa's orders — which 
the registers proved, as nothing might leave the Beit- 
el-Mal without his sanction. The " strong" man now 
was undecided as to whether Abdullahi was playing 
with him or not, but his safest plan was to intrigue 
against Adlan. In this he would be helped might 
and main by Yacoub, Abdullahi's brother, and the 
bitterest enemy of Adlan, for Yacoub, as the Emir of 
Emirs (prince of princes), was insane with jealousy 
at the hold which Adlan had on the masses. The 
respect and veneration paid to Adlan Yacoub con- 
sidered himself entitled to by virtue of his position 
and rank. 

It may, or may not, be the case that Abdullahi him- 
self was growing jealous of Adlan. As Khaleefa, his 
power was so absolute that he could remove any 
dangerous person by a suggestive motion of the hand, 
so that when he sent Adlan into prison for a time, it 
was, in Adlan s opinion, only to appease his enemies, 
to prevent any wavering in their allegiance, and to 



IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN 



149 



stem the rapidly approaching tide of discontent. But 
Adlan's committal to the Saier left a clear field for 
his enemies to intrigue against him, and being kept 
informed of every charge made, and the Khaleefa's 
varying moods towards him, Adlan saw serious danger 
ahead. 

Reports reached us that the Beit-el-Mal was in 
sore straits, and that the Khaleefa had already 
expressed his intention of reinstating Adlan if matters 
did not improve. Then it was that Adlan unbosomed 
himself to me practically unreservedly. Gradually, 
but surely, he gave me to understand that if ever he 
was reinstated he would do all in his power to secure 
my release, and he so often told me not to attempt 
flight, if I was released, that I saw clearly he meant 
to assist me in doing so. As the Beit-el-Mal went 
from bad to worse, Adlan's spirits rose, and he 
appealed to me to advise him what to do in the event 
of his being reinstated. He saw that for a time, at 
least, he should have to abandon his old policy, and 
he did not know in what direction he might turn to 
revive the fallen fortunes of the treasury and granary. 

Trading had been permitted to a certain extent, so 
I suggested its extension, but Adlan at first would not 
hear of this. Abdullahi's purpose was to keep the 
Soudan as much a terra incognita as possible, and the 
further opening up of trade routes would defeat this 
object. My next suggestion was that the Beit-el-Mal 
should hand over to merchants gum, ivory, feathers, 
etc., at a fixed rate, to be bartered against specified 
articles required at Omdurman, which, being received 



ISO A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



into the Beit-el-Mal to be distributed from there, 
would allow of it making double profits on the trans- 
actions. At first he scouted the idea, for there was 
not a single man he could trust, and if he gave 
merchants any goods and they did not return with 
the proceeds of their barter, Adlan would be held 
responsible. It was then I suggested that he should 
only advance goods to people who had families in 
Omdurman, which would ensure their returning ; but 
he foresaw that the Khaleefa would raise objections, 
as these people might give information to the Govern- 
ment. As a matter of fact, they did do so eventually, 
returning to Omdurman and giving to Abdullahi as 
incorrect information of the Government as they had 
given the Government concerning him and affairs in 
the Soudan. 

In the end, I drove home my point by falling into 
figurative language, a means of argument as general 
and effective in the East now as it was in ancient days. 
" Adlan," I said, " you have been feeding Abdullahi on 
his own flesh ; he is sick, but he is hungry ; you have 
cut all the flesh from his bones ; if you try to feed him 
on his bones, he will kill you, for he wants flesh to 
eat ; you must cut flesh from some one else to feed 
him, and cover his bones again." Adlan then jumped 
at the idea of trading, and said that as soon as his 
release came — for he felt sure he would be released — 
he would ask the Khaleefa to release me so that I 
might assist him in the work. The first essential, 
though, he told me, was to abandon my present atti- 
tude towards Mahdieh, and offer to become a Muslim. 



IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN 



I agreed to do so, and Adlan reported to the Saier, 
who in turn reported to the Kadi, that I was willing 
to embrace the faith. " What," said the Kadi, 
" Abdalla Nufell a Muslim ? No, his heart is the old 
black one ; he is not with us ; he is deceiving ; his 
brain (head) is still strong ; he is a deceiver ; tell him 
so from me." The Kadi had not forgotten my old 
discussions with him in the presence of others, where 
he perhaps had the worst of it, and would not forgive 
me. Failing my " conversion," he knew that I should 
have to suffer the tortures of the Saier, and he intended 
that I should suffer them. Soon after this, Adlan was 
released and reinstated in his old post ; but he sent 
word that I must be patient, as he could not speak to 
the Khaleefa about me until he had got back fully into 
favour. 

I should have mentioned before, that on the 
Khaleefa asking for designs for the proposed tomb 
of the Mahdi, Kadi Hanan* and others suggested that 
I should prepare designs in the hope they would be 
accepted, when I should have to be released to see to 
their execution. Remembering the old tombs of the 
Khaliffs at Cairo, I had little difficulty in drawing 
a rough sketch of one, which I had submitted to 
Abdullah, as being an entirely original design. I was 
told by the Saier to make a clay model, and spent 
some three weeks in making one about two feet high. 
Hundreds came to see it, until it was knocked to 
pieces by a presumed fanatic, who objected to a dog 
of an unbeliever designing the tomb of the holy mau ; 
but from what I learned later, it was only kicked to 



152 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



pieces after it had been copied. Adlan, knowing of 
this incident, sent me word to prepare designs for the 
mural decorations of the interior, and I spent some 
weeks over these ; when they were finished, I sent 
them direct to the Khaleefa, who sent for Adlan, and 
told him to make inquiries as to how long the transfer 
of the designs to the walls would take, and how much 
the work would cost. I gave an estimate of sixty 
days for the completion of the work. Adlan said the 
cost would be nil, as he had the paint. 

While these designs were being sketched out, I 
made preparations for flight as soon after my expected 
release as possible, and having paper and ink in 
comparative abundance, I was enabled to write letters 
surreptitiously. On October 12, 1888, I sent my 
servant to a Greek captive, asking him to write me a 
letter in Greek to my old friend, Mankarious Effendi, 
station-master at Assouan. The original letter is 
before me, and the following is a literal translation : — ■ 

* Mr. Neufeld has asked me to write this letter because he could 
not write it himself; you cannot know what a difficult position 
he is in ; since he came here he was taken twice to the gallows, 
but was not hanged, and is still in chains, and subject to their mercy. 
He wants you to take over his business, and to act forthwith as 
his agent. He borrowed from the bearer a hundred medjedie 
(dollars), which refund to him, and give him something for his 
trouble, and try and send him back with two hundred pounds which 
he might buy his liberty for. This letter is to be kept secret, as 
there are people who carry all news here, so if the authorities got to 
know anything about it Mr. Neufeld will grow from bad to worse. 

(Signed) " Niroghopolo." 

On November 10, 1888, hearing that another old 



IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN 



r 53 



acquaintance was in Omdurman, I got another Greek 
captive to write another letter to Mankarious Effendi. 
This letter also was delivered, and Mankarious 
Effendi hands it to me along with a number of other 
documents which he has carefully preserved. I again 
translate literally — 

"Mr. Mankarious Bey, — 

" I wish you will be kind, and have all my things made 
over to you by Mr. Moller (my manager), and I pray you to act as 
my wakeel (agent) ; also please try and send me some money which 
I may help myself with, say two hundred or three hundred pounds ; 
this money will be for my own use. As I was in need, I have taken 
from the bearer a sum of a hundred medjedie, which you will 
refund him and something as well, because he has done me a favour, 
and his name is Akkar (the real name — Karrar, was doubtless 
purposely changed). The money you can give the bearer of this, 
please take a receipt for and keep it with you ; write me a letter, and 
send it to Ahmad Abou Idris, or his brother Kabbassi, and mention 
the sum you have sent me ; also give bearer any assistance he may 
want. 

(Signed) " Prothomos " (I am ready). 

I had heard from people who had come to Omdur- 
man of strange doings in connection with my business, 
and in order that my manager should understand that 
the letter was authentic, I also signed the letter, and 
used our cypher for payment of ^200 — "u.r.r." 

While in a fever of excitement and anxiety over the 
despatch of these messengers, Adlan sent me a secret 
messenger to say that Sulieman Haroun, of the 
Ababdeh tribe, then living at Omdurman, was send- 
ing his son Mohammad Ali to Cairo. Divining that 
Adlan wished me to communicate with Sulieman, I 
sent out word that I wished to see him. In a few 



154 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



days' time he gained admittance to the prison to see 
me, and I at once set to business, and asked him if he 
would undertake the arrangements for my escape. 
This he agreed to do, but only on condition that I 
succeeded in getting outside the prison walls. So that 
he should have some confidence that I would assist 
also, I asked him to call and see Adlan, and I believe 
it was Adlan who advanced to Sulieman the two 
hundred dollars he brought me, and for which I gave 
a receipt for ^ioo. I gave him a letter for his son 
to deliver to my manager at Assouan, enclosing a 
receipt for ^ioo, and an order for payment of a 
further ^200. On receiving the money, he was to 
buy goods, arrange for relays of camels on his return 
journey, and bring the goods to the Beit-el-Mal, 
where Adlan assured him he would find me. Moham- 
mad Ali was to leave immediately, and return to 
Omdurman at the earliest possible moment. 

Within a few days of the despatch of this messenger, 
Moussa Daoud-el-Kanaga, also of the Ababdeh tribe, 
and an old acquaintance of mine, came to see me, and 
I enlisted his services. I told him of the other arrange- 
ments I had made, and asked if he would go partners 
with Mohammad Ali in effecting my escape. To 
Kanaga I gave a letter telling my manager that I had 
drawn against him a draft for ^200, and instructing 
him to honour it ; but, in case of accidents, I in- 
structed Kanaga to see Mankarious Effendi at 
Assouan, and, failing to find him, to make his way to 
Cairo, and hand the letter to the German Consul. 
Kanaga left Omdurman about December 30, 1888. 




MOUSSA PAOUD EL KANAGA. 



IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN 



i55 



After my remarks anent the reliable unreliability 
of every one in the Soudan, the deceptions practised 
one against the other, and the absolute necessity 
for secrecy, it will naturally be wondered that I 
entrusted my secret to so many, if secret it could be 
called when so many knew of it. The explanation is 
simple. I knew the people I had to deal with, and 
have you noticed the seemingly insignificant fact that 
I borrowed money from each of the people I employed ? 
Later in my narrative I will explain these peculiar 
transactions. 

While these different messengers are on their 
journeys, being " held up " at one place or the other, 
and at others pretending that they were gradually 
working their way to Berber or Dongola for trade, I 
relate what is happening in Omdurman. 

News filtered through that the "faithful" had won 
a great victory over the English at Suakin ; but as 
the Saier filled with prisoners who were present at the 
fight, and who gave different versions to that ordained 
by Abdullahi — hence their imprisonment — we learned 
the truth. The "faithful" had received a severe 
defeat. Soon after this, the army sent against Abys- 
sinia won its great victory over the forces led by 
King John, and the fortunes of the Beit-el- Mai took a 
turn for the better from the proceeds of the sale of 
slaves and the loot brought in. Adlan was coming into 
favour again, but Abdullahi was too much occupied in 
goading on Nejoumi to attack Egypt to give any 
attention to the decoration of the Mahdi's tomb or the 
extension of trade. He was still less inclined to give 



/ 



156 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

any attention to such matters, when the news arrived 
— and it arrived very soon, — that Nejoumi's army had 
been almost annihilated at Toski. My evil star was 
certainly in the ascendant, and was mounting higher 
and higher, for it was at this time that Joseppi re- 
ceived a flogging for his vocal exercises, and having a 
severe fit of mental aberration in consequence, he 
went off to the Saier, and told him that he knew I was 
a great military general, and that I was maturing 
plans for the overthrow of Abdullahi. I do not for a 
moment believe the poor fellow knew what he was say- 
ing, for he came back to share my scanty meal as usual. 

Kanaga and Mohammad Ali we had calculated 
would reach Omdurman some time in December or 
the early days of January, and as the time for their 
return approached, Adlan evidently became more 
earnest in his entreaties for the work of decorating 
the Mahdi's tomb to be put in hand. My flight would 
have to take place as soon as possible after the return 
of my messengers, otherwise the desert relays would 
disperse, believing that the scheme had fallen through ; 
so it was necessary that I should have been at work 
for some time before their arrival, that is to say, long 
enough for my guards to grow lax in watching my 
movements. 

Day after day Adlan sent in to inquire, " Have 
you any news from the Khaleefa ? " and each day 
the messenger took back my reply, " No ; have 
you ? " but my inquiry referred to news of the 
messengers. At last the joyful news came ; the work 
was to be done, and two guards came to the Saier, 



IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN 



i57 



and conducted me to the Mahdi's tomb. There I dis- 
covered that my clay model had been faithfully copied, 
with the exception that the builders had shaped the 
dome conically. Adlan came to me there, and con- 
gratulated me on this being my last day in makkiehs 
(chains). Telling me to remain at the tomb until his 
return, he went off to the Khaleefa to receive his 
order for my transfer to the Beit-el- Mai, and at the 
very moment he was receiving it, the deputation of 
the Muslimanieh put in its appearance to report the 
disappearance of Joseppi. I was hurried back to 
prison, and an extra makkieh fitted to me. How I 
cursed Joseppi, but I did not know then that the poor 
fellow had been murdered. It was not long after this 
when I saw Adlan brought into the prison, heavily 
weighted with chains, and taken to a hut some 
distance from all the others, the prisoners being for- 
bidden to approach or speak to him. 

During the night, on pretence of going to the place 
of ablution, I shuffled towards his hut, and when a 
few yards distant, lay on the ground and wriggled 
close up, stretching my chains to prevent their rattling 
and attracting the notice of the guards. Asking in 
a whisper, " What has happened ? " he replied in a 
startled voice, " Imshee, imshee (go away, go away), 
do not speak to me ; a big dog has me by the leg 
this time ; go away, or he will get your leg." I tried 
again to learn what was the matter, but Adlan's 
entreaties for me to go away were so earnest that 
I wriggled off, and gained my hut without being dis- 
covered. Soon afterwards Adlan's slave boy, when 



158 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

walking past my hut, said, " Do not speak to my 
master ; if you do, you will hear the ombeyeh." The 
whole night through the boy passed backwards and 
forwards between Adlan's hut and his house outside. 
Asked as to what he was doing, he gave the same 
reply each time I put a question to him, " Burning 
papers ; do not speak to my master." I had learned 
from Adlan that he had been in communication with 
"friends," and understanding from him that, in the 
event of my ever returning to Egypt, I was to be his 
" friend at court " with the Government, I suspected 
that he was destroying all evidences which might be 
used against himself and others. That the Khaleefa 
himself had received word of some correspondence is 
evident from the rage he exhibited when Adlan's 
house was searched, and no incriminating documents 
found. Idris es Saier nearly lost his head over the 
matter, for the Khaleefa accused him of having 
assisted Adlan in disposing of the papers in some 
way. 

On the morning of the third or fourth day of 
Adlan s imprisonment, we saw him led out of his hut 
bound, and taken to the anvil to have his chains 
struck off. We all knew what this meant — an exe- 
cution, but most of us believed that the Khaleefa 
was only doing this to frighten Adlan, and impress 
him with this evidence of his power. We were not 
allowed to approach him, but Adlan called out, " This 
is my day ; have no fear, any of you. I am a man. I 
shall say and do nothing a man need be ashamed of. 
Farewell." While extra chains were being fitted to 



IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN 



159 



my ankles, the ombeyehs were announcing the death 
of Adlan. The mourning for his death was general, 
but few if any knew the reasons which actuated the 
Khaleefa in ordering his execution. Maybe the 
fugitive Khaleefa himself only knows, but it is 
possible I can throw a little light on the matter. 
To coin a word, Adlan had been " Gordonized ; " 
about the time of the anniversary of Gordon's death, 
Adlan met with his, and while waiting for that help 
which, as will be seen, started " too late." 



CHAPTER XIII 



THE TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE 

If I am wearying my readers with this long-drawn- 
out episode, which never seems to draw to a close, I 
may ask their forgiveness on the ground that weeks 
have been spent in collecting the links which were 
scattered between Europe and Omdurman, and with- 
out the links complete the tale might, and very reason- 
ably so, have been disbelieved. 

The messengers I despatched with the first letters 
quoted, arrived in Assouan some time in January or 
February, 1889, and delivered the letters to Man- 
karious Effendi, who at once wrote to my manager, 
as he had sold up my business, and left for Alex- 
andria. Receiving no reply, Mankarious Effendi 
wrote to the German Consulate at Alexandria, who, 
on March 4, replied as follows : — 

"Alexandria, March 4, 1889. 

" Mankarious Effendi Rizk, Assouan, — 

"In reply to your letter of February 18 last, I am 
very sorry to inform you that the agent of Mr. Charles Neufeld, the 
Mahdi's captive in the Soudan, Mr. Moller has shown that he cannot 
help Mr. Neufeld in any way. It is rumoured here that the house 
established by Mr. Moller for Mr. Neufeld has refused payments for 



TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE 161 



some months back, therefore Mr. Moller finds it quite impossible to 
send to Mr. Neufeld any sum unless he refuses many payments to 
numerous creditors who claim any amounts from Mr. Neufeld's 
house. Mr. Moller was called to this Consulate, and directed to 
give a full statement as to his proceedings in the said house, and how 
the latter stands, and on doing so, it was found that Mr. Moller has 
done nothing wrong, and we have therefore nothing to say against 
Mr. Moller. 

"But as regards the ^500 deposited in the Credit Lyonnais by 
Mr. Neufeld before his departure to the Soudan, Mr. Moller has 
shown receipts for over ^400 paid to creditors, and the rest was 
spent as travelling expenses between here and Assouan, and for the 
establishment of the new house in Alexandria. Still Mr. Moller has 
asked Abd-el-Kader Bey, who came recently back from the Soudan, 
to advise him as to the way in which he could send him a sum of 
money. Abd-el-Kader Bey's advice, however, was that no money 
should be sent to Mr. Neufeld, because the latter cannot make use 
of money there. Abd-el-Kader Bey stated, further, that Mr. Neufeld 
was then in chains, and was only induced by his guards to ask for 
money. He was then very much threatened and ill-treated by 
them. This is all about the case now which I lay before your 
notice. 

" (Signed) The German Consul, 

"Helwig." 

At the same time, my manager, on my own letter- 
paper, sent the following : — 

" Alexandria (undated). 

" After salaams, etc., yours to hand and details notified. In 
reply, I inform you that I presented myself at the German Con- 
sulate, and found a letter from you addressed to the Consulate, 
stating therein that Mr. Neufeld had written to you to the effect 
that he claims ^500 from me, although I had paid this sum to 
creditors who claimed sums from Mr. Neufeld. I have sent goods 
to Haifa and Assouan, the value of which I have not yet received. 
I inform you further that Nicola Lutfalla has sold the dahabieh, the 
horse, and the donkeys, and did not send me the price of same, 

M 



l62 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



though he sold these without any permission from me. Con- 
sequently I wrote to him to send me the account or the money, yet 
nothing of the kind was received from him. 

" Will you kindly arrange to sell all the goods in charge of Nicola, 
because he wrote me saying that he was ill, and can neither buy nor 
sell ; so kindly sell the things and forward the money in order to 
cover the claims {i.e. the sums advanced to me by my guides, and the 
money I had asked for). 

" Please also have a complete list made by Nicola, showing all 
the things he sold, and let me have this list, making thereby the 
thing clear, otherwise I shall have to take measures through the 
Government. 

" Regarding our two houses in Assouan, will you kindly let them 
for any rent, from which you will pay the taxes. Should they be 
vacant now, please look after them, and send people each week to 
keep them clean. They should always be kept locked. Should 
anything remain what cannot be sold, keep it for Mr. Neufeld, and 
any letter you write me, please address to Mr. Moller, Mr. Neufeld's 
agent in Alexandria, and oblige. 

(Signed) "Moller. 
" N.B. — Ask Nicola for account as well." 

While this correspondence was being conducted, 
another of my messengers arrived, and again Man- 
karious Effendi wrote to the Consulate, receiving the 
following in reply : — 

" Alexandria, March 12, 1889. 

" A previous letter, dated March 4, was sent you. On the 
same date a letter was received from you. You may be sure 
that what Mr. Wilhelm Moller says is quite true y that is that Mr. 
Neufeld is no longer a German subject nor protege, because during 
his stay in Egypt Mr. Neufeld has never claimed the protection of 
Germany, where he was born. Thus he has lost his nationality. 
This is according to what we learn from the parties interested in 
Germany. Upon this, this Consulate can in no way look into the 
affairs of Mr. Neufeld nor protect his rights, except to punish Mr. 
Moller should he have done anything to be punished for, as we 



TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE 163 



stated to you in our letter of March 4th. But the investigations 
made in our Consulate show clearly that Mr. Moller has done 
nothing wrong for which he ought to be punished. 

" Should you, however, think it necessary, with reference to Mr. 
Neufeld's two letters, which are returned herewith, to have his 
business made over to you, this step should be taken before the 
Mixed Tribunals, if Mr. Moller refuses to make over to you Mr. 
Neufeld's business willingly. 

" As regarding the testament made by Mr. Neufeld, which you 
sent to this consulate on October 23, 1887, this was first kept in 
this consulate, and then, when Mr. Neufeld's wife came here in 
September, 1888, she asked for it, as it had been reported that Mr. 
Neufeld was dead. This testament was then sent to the Governor 
of Alexandria as the one concerned, to which Mrs. Neufeld had to 
refer as a local subject. So the Governor opened the testament, and 
handed it to Mrs. Neufeld, who is still in possession of it. Mr. 
Moller has now removed his business to Cairo, where he intends to 
get married. Salaams. 

(Signed) " The German Consul, 

" Helwig " 

Mankarious would have entered an action to secure 
my property, but the argument had been used that 
the letters were not written by me, and that perhaps 
I did not know their real contents. He did not 
know, nor did the Consulate in a later incident know, 
that the small Latin characters written by me on 
these letters proved their genuineness, as they were 
the " cash code" I had used with my manager in 
business telegrams. Mankarious sent Mohammad Ali 
back to Omdurman with my discredited bill, and with 
verbal messages that he would do all in his power to 
raise monies for my escape. While he was making 
arrangements, Moussa Daoud-el-Kanaga, who had 
spent some time on the road ingratiating himself with 



1 64 A PRISONER OF THE K HA LEE FA 



the people whose assistance we should require in our 
flight, put in his appearance, and learning how matters 
stood, without confiding in Mankarious or Mohammad 
Ali, came on to Cairo, in the hope that he would be 
able to get the money on the strength of the letter 
that I had given him, for, as he admits, he wanted all 
the glory and all the profit for himself. 

I continue the history from the sworn statement of 
Kanaga, taken before a lawyer and in the presence 
of witnesses who could vouch for the greater part of it. 
I admit I was myself a little incredulous, but Kanaga 
has since backed up his statement by producing two 
documents, the authenticity of which cannot for a 
moment be called into question, while two are actually 
recorded in extenso in the registers of the German 
Consulate. Kanaga, according to his statement, on 
arrival at Cairo, presented the letter addressed to my 
manager, at the German Consulate, delivering at the 
same time my verbal messages. By the German 
Consulate he was taken to the Austrian Consulate- 
General, who, after hearing his news, sent a consular 
official with him to the War Office, where he related 
his story. 

It is quite evident that Count Wass, the Austrian 
Consul-General, believed that Kanaga would be 
assisted to start back immediately on the proposed 
expedition, for he entrusted him w T ith an autograph 
letter dated Sunday, October 27, 1889, addressed to 
Slatin, asking Slatin to request the Khaleefa to reply 
to the message sent him by the Emperor of Austria 
concerning the Austrian Mission captives. Kanaga 



TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE 165 



was put off time after time on the grounds that no 
reply had been received to the letter he had delivered. 
Losing patience, he returned to Assouan and made up 
a caravan on his own account, and, when all was ready, 
returned to Cairo to report that all arrangements were 
complete. He was again passed from one to the 
other, and on April 26, 1890, he presented himself for 
the last time at the German Consulate, and being told 
that there was " no reply," he demanded a certificate 
to the effect that he had delivered my letter, but had 
not received any monies in connection with it, when 
a signed and sealed certificate was given him.* 

Kanaga concealed the Consular certificate and the 
letter for Slatin in his jibbeh, and set off for Omdurman. 
On nearing Berber he was met by a dervish patrol, 
taken prisoner, and hurried before the Mahdist 
Governor of the town. There he was confronted by 
two men who swore to having seen him conversing 
with myself and Wad Adlan. This Kanaga did not 
deny, but said that he had only spoken about trade, 
and that he had permission to trade. The Governor 
told him it would be better to tell the truth, for he had 

* "Attestation. At the special request of Moussa Daoud-el-Abadi (Ababdeh), this is to 
certify that the above on October 22, 1889, brought to the Imperial Consulate a letter addressed 
to William Moller Assouan, and said to be from Charles Neufeld. This is to certify also that 
the said letter to Mr. Moller was sent to Mr. Neufeld's father, but up to the present no monies 
have been received in respect of it. Signed, Becker." 

The letter itself was copied into the Consular registers G. 48, p. 385, and the following is a 
translation of the contents : — 

" William Moller Assouan. Three days ago I sent to you Mohammad Ali with a letter and 
receipt for ^100. Do not make any difficulties about payment, and give him as much money as 
possible according to the letter I have sent you. He is a sure man, and I hope he will be the 
go-between between me and you after this, and there shall be reward for it. I have agreed with 
him that he shall receive 25 per cent, of the amount you give him for his services. With the 
other man mentioned in his letter and mentioned here, you might act as you like, but do not 
make any difficulties to him. I hope I shall be able to buy my liberty after his return, and then 
all expenses shall be rewarded. I have sent to you up to now." . . . The Consulate omitted to 
register the names of the guides sent, and left the space blank. The certified copy of this letter 
also states that the letter contained certain Latin characters which were undecipherable ; these, 
again, were my ' cash code ' to my manager, proving the authenticity of the letters and 
guaranteeing the contents. On the back of the letter was written, 'Pay to Moussa Daoud-el- 
Kanaga the sum of ,£30 received. Dated December 5, 1888.'" 



1 66 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



received the news from Omdurman of Wad Adlan 
having assisted him in arranging my escape, and had 
also received news from Cairo of his visits to the War 
Office and the Consulates, and knew that the goods he 
had with him were a blind to his real object in going 
to Omdurman. But, continued the Governor, Adlan 
has been killed, and Neufeld has more chains on him. 
No confession could be dragged out of Kanaga, so he 
was flogged and thrown into prison, the Governor 
confiscating his camels and property. After a short 
spell in prison, Kanaga was set free and told to return 
to his own people. To have sent him as a prisoner to 
Omdurman would have necessitated the Governor 
sending at the same time the confiscated camels and 
goods, and as the Governor wished to keep these for 
himself, the only way he could keep them was by 
" forgiving " Kanaga, and releasing him. Kanaga 
lost no time in making his way back to his people, but 
after this narrow escape, he made no further efforts to 
penetrate into the Soudan, and the relation of his 
experiences deterred every one else from attempting 
my escape. 

In giving my narrative to the world — owing to the 
very evident attempts made in certain quarters to 
discredit me — I have felt it incumbent upon me not 
for my own sake, but for the sake of my mother, wife 
and child, and relatives, to produce as far as lies in 
my power reliable evidence that the slanders per- 
sistently circulated in the Press before and since my 
release are only what I have characterized them to be. 
Therefore none may cavil at the means I adopt for 



TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE 167 



the attainment of this object provided those means 
are honest, however disagreeable the process may 
eventually turn out to be for others. 

In reply to the charges of refusing to escape from 
the Soudan, I have, I venture to believe, brought 
together the links of the chain of evidence in my 
favour up to the present period of my narrative. 
Other evidences will be forthcoming in connection 
with incidents to be treated of later. The letters I 
have quoted are ample proof that from October, 1888, 
until April, 1890, my guides and myself were doing all 
in our power to effect my escape. Meanwhile, the 
Intelligence Department on March 10, 1890, are 
writing to my wife as follows : — 

"Mohammad Effendi Rafai, late Sub-Lieutenant, 4th Battalion, 
5th Regiment, who left Khartoum three months ago, states he knew 
Neufeld very well, and saw him at Omdurman only a few days 
before he left. Neufeld had been under surveillance until about five 
months prior to this, but was now free. His release was owing to 
one of the Emirs representing to Abdullah Khalifa the great service 
Neufeld had been in enabling arms and ammunition to be taken 
from the Kabbabish at the time Neufeld was captured. He now 
was employed as one of the Khalifa's mulazimeen, and received a 
small salary ; the Khalifa gave him two wives, and treats him well. 
Neufeld has very little to complain of except want of funds, which 
renders living difficult, good food being very dear. He is frequently 
staying with Ibrahim Bey Fauzi, who has opened a small coffee- 
shop. It is untrue that the Khalifa ever threatened Neufeld's life ; 
he was only threatened with imprisonment unless he turned 
Mussulman. Does not think it possible that Neufeld can receive 
any letters, etc., from outside, Neufeld does not occupy himself in 
business in any way. Has ne /er heard Neufeld express any wish to 
go away, but does not think he would be able to do so even if he 
wished it, as every one knows him." 



1 68 A PRISONER OF THE KH ALEE FA 



In September, 1888, it had been reported to my 
wife that, having made an attempt to escape, I had 
been recaptured, and taken back to Omdurman and 
executed. It was therefore very kind and considerate 
of the Intelligence Department to see the error 
rectified, but I venture to think that the sweets of the 
good news need not have been converted into gall and 
wormwood by telling her that I owed my release to 
my " assistance " in betraying the caravan of the loyal 
Sheikh Saleh into the hands of the dervishes. Even 
had there been any truth in such a statement, I think 
that an English lady might have been spared this 
unnecessary heart-pang. I thank God nightly— ay, 
hourly, that He has brought me alive from the hell I 
lived in, to rescue my wife from the hell she was 
thrown into with such reports as these. 

It must not be imagined, from the foregoing, that 
there is the slightest intention on my part to cast 
aspersions on the War Office or the Consulates. I 
place plain simple facts before you, and these because 
at the time when I was anxiously awaiting the return 
of my messengers, picturing to myself the efforts my 
friends were making to ensure success — though, as has 
been seen, they were very differently occupied — reports 
were being circulated that I refused to escape, and my 
wife in consequence was the recipient of numberless 
letters of sympathy, in which some were " praying to 
the Almighty to turn the heart of your erring husband," 
while others were expressing the hope that the ties 
which bound her to me would soon be severed by my 
meeting my deserts at the hands of the Khaleefa's 



TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE 169 

executioner ! Those who prayed for me I thank ; 
One who knew the truth, heard those prayers : those 
who condemned me I do not blame, and feel no 
resentment against ; they merely believed what was 
communicated to the Press. 



CHAPTER XIV 



A PRISONER AT LARGE 

The disappearance of Joseppi, followed by the death 
of Adlan, threw me into a state of almost abject 
despair; there appeared to be no hopes of my ever 
being released from the Saier, and after the replies 
given by Abdullahi to Wad Adlan and the Musli- 
manieh when they interceded for me, my friends 
outside evidently abandoned all hope also. But I 
was to have an interesting fellow-prisoner whose 
deceptions on Abdullahi and others were indirectly to 
lead to my release. It will take many generations of 
Gordon College teachers to uproot the firm belief 
of the Soudanese in "jinns" (spirits, sprites, and 
fairies) and in the supernatural powers claimed to be 
possessed by certain communities and individuals. 
Centuries of most transparent deceptions have not 
shaken their belief, so that it was no wonder the 
Mahdi found many imitators in the miracle-working 
line, and that these people found thousands of believers. 
The more these charlatans failed in their endeavours 
to produce powder from sand, lead from dust, and 
precious metals from the baser ones, the more credence 
was given to the next professing alchemist who came 



A PRISONER AT LARGE 



171 



along. A man named Shwybo of the Fellati country 
(near Lake Chad), had driven a good trade in 
Omdurman by inducing people to give him large 
copper coins to be converted into silver dollars ; he 
had offered his services to Wad Adlan, but as the Beit- 
el-Mal had been mulcted in some thousands of dollars 
already by people like him, Adlan refused to entertain 
any of his propositions. 

On the death of Adlan, Shwybo offered his services 
to the Khaleefa, and the Beit-el-Mal. The Kadi was 
instructed to inquire into his pretensions ; Shwybo pro- 
fessed to have power over the jinns who converted 
copper into silver ; a number of his dupes presented 
themselves to the Kadi, and complained that Shwybo's 
jinns had not only not converted the coins given them 
to work upon, but had stolen the coins into the bargain. 
Shwybo pleaded that the action of the jinns was in 
consequence of the want of faith of the complainants, 
and to their curiosity in trying to see the jinns at work; 
the jinns would never work in the presence of strangers ; 
no one but himself might be in the place where the 
converting of the metals was in progress. Shwybo 
was given about a hundred dollars' worth of copper 
coins, and incense, drugs, spices, etc., to a further 
value of nearly two hundred dollars, which were taken 
from the Beit-el-Mal, and charged to the account of 
the Kadi. The incense, drugs, and spices were to 
propitiate the angry jinns; but to ensure their not 
being disturbed at work, the Kadi said Shwybo had 
better carry out his experiments in the Saier where 
Idris would see he was not interfered with. 



172 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



He was given a hut apart from the rest, where he set 
to at once with his incantations and incense burning. 
Idris and a number of the prisoners were invited to go 
and see the coins buried in the ground — the jinns having 
been propitiated. A quarter of an hour's incantation 
was given, Shwybo speaking a language which must 
have been as unintelligible to himself and his jinns as 
it was to us. A similar incantation had to be given 
each day until noon on the following Friday, as it was 
at this hour each week that the jinns finished off any 
work they had in hand. On the Friday, at noon, we 
were asked to go to Shwybo's hut, and on the earth 
being removed, sure enough the copper coins had dis- 
appeared, and silver dollars had replaced them ! The 
next Friday only part of the coins had been converted, 
when Shwybo remembered that the jinns had not been 
fed, and must be hungry. They had delicate tastes ; 
asseeda they would not eat, so they were liberally 
supplied with roast chickens, pigeons, white bread, 
milk, eggs, etc. We were not permitted to see them 
eat, but we were allowed to see the clean-picked bones 
and empty egg-shells ! Something went wrong again, 
for on the following Friday it was discovered that 
none of the coins had been converted ; evidently 
Shwybo had run through his stock of dollars. 

Idris, at the request of the Kadi, asked me my opinion 
of the whole thing, as Shwybo wished to have another 
try. I replied that little children in my country would 
not be deceived by such trickery, and that if the Kadi 
wanted to spend his money on food, he had better buy 
food for the starving women and children, and not 



A PRISONER AT LARGE 



173 



waste it on supposed jinns. Whether my reply, or the 
conviction that he had been duped angered him, I 
cannot say, but Shwybo received a severe flogging. 
Not a cry escaped his lips ; he laughed at the Saier, 
telling him to strike harder. The flogging over, he 
told Idris that although his silver-working jinns had 
flown off, and through no fault of his, his gold-working 
jinns had come to his succour, and had interposed 
their bodies between his and the lash. Idris, as I 
have already pointed out, was the incarnation of 
superstition and credulity, and it was only necessary 
for Shwybo to tell him that his faithful gold jinns 
could convert lead into gold, to set Idris collecting 
dollars from the prisoners on the Nebbi Khiddr 
account. With these he set up a special laboratory 
for Shwybo in the house of Wad Farag, one of the 
gaolers — and a reputed son of Idris. Shwybo was 
provided with a number of small crucibles, two sets of 
Soudanese bellows, with a couple of slave boys to work 
them, a quantity of lead and a number of packets of 
drugs and powders from the Beit-el-Mal pharmacy. 
Farag was told to keep an eye on him, and see that 
he did not purloin any of the gold when it appeared. 

When the first lot of lead was melted, Shwybo drew 
Farag's attention to its reddish colour, proving that 
the conversion was taking place ; then Farag retired 
while Shwybo uttered another incantation ; on being 
called in again, and the cover being removed from the 
crucible, a bright yellow mass was seen, from which 
strong fumes arose. Farag was told to cover up the 
crucible quickly, which he did, and left the room with 



174 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

Shwybo to allow of the jinns completing their work 
and cooling the metal. Farag went off to Idris and 
the Kadi, telling them that the conversion of the lead 
to gold had actually taken place ; that he had seen the 
gold for himself. The Kadi was dubious, but as Idris 
only was employing Shwybo on this work, he declined 
to come into the prison to see the gold turned out. 
When it was believed that the work was complete, Idris, 
Farag, and Shwybo proceeded to the laboratory, and lo ! 
the crucibles were found empty. Shwybo thereupon 
accused Farag of having stolen the block of gold, and 
a pretty row ensued ; the prison and the prisoners 
were searched, and the gold not being found, Farag 
was flogged to make him disclose its hiding-place. 
Shwybo essayed a second attempt, but as Idris in- 
sisted upon remaining in the laboratory from beginning 
to end, the jinns refused to work, and then Shwybo 
was flogged. One would have thought that, after this, 
people would see that Shwybo was duping them, but 
he continued to collect money for conversion from the 
prisoners, and now and again was able to give to an 
earlier dupe one or two dollars he had received from a 
later one. Complaints were made against him though, 
and he received repeated floggings to make him 
discontinue his frauds, dying in the prison as a result. 

It was while Shwybo was working away at his 
alchemistic frauds that Hassan Zecki, an old Egyptian 
doctor, and then in charge of the medical stores of the 
Beit-el-Mal, came into the Saier in connection with 
the drugs being purchased on Shwybo's account ; 
Zecki had known me byname for some time, for I had 



A PRISONER AT LARGE 



*75 



in my practice as " medicine man " frequently sent 
him notes for the medicines I required, and not 
knowing the x^rabic terms, I used the Latin names 
for such drugs as I was acquainted with. From this, 
Zecki must have come to the conclusion that I was a 
qualified chemist, and as at that time his assistant, 
Said Abdel Wohatt was, and had been for some time, 
trying to extract saltpetre in Khartoum and the 
neighbourhood, Zecki questioned me as to its pro- 
duction in Europe, but I had to admit that I had only 
seen the crystals obtained in the laboratory when at 
the University, and had no experience of their pro- 
duction on a commercial scale. I told Zecki what 
little I knew of testing the crystals, and you may 
imagine my surprise when three days later I was 
summoned before Yacoub to explain the manufacture 
of saltpetre. 

The new Amin Beit-el-Mal — El Nur El Garfawi 
— came to the Saier after sunset, and conducted 
me to Yacoub's house. One thinks rapidly under 
such circumstances, and by the time we reached 
Yacoub's house I had my tale thought out. I saw 
that if I declared that I could not do the work I 
should not be believed, and would be flogged and have 
extra irons placed on me for contumacy. To lead 
them on to believe that I could manufacture saltpetre 
meant my release from prison. After a long dis- 
cussion with Yacoub, it was arranged that I was to 
construct three large tanks, about six feet long and four 
feet high, in which impregnated earth was to be mixed 
with water, and the solution drawn off and allowed to 



176 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

evaporate. Believing that I should be set to make 
these tanks or reservoirs, I suggested them, as their 
construction would necessitate the removal of my 
chains. The following morning I was called to the 
anvil, the rings holding the heavy iron bar were cut 
and forced open, and the heavy ankle-chain I was 
wearing was replaced by a piece of light awning chain 
taken from one of Gordon's steamers. I was thankful 
even for this relief, as it removed a dead weight of 
fifteen to twenty pounds of iron from my feet. Under 
an armed escort I was taken to the Nile, where I found 
awaiting me the Emirs Yacoub, Ahmed Fedeel — who 
is now causing trouble on the Blue Nile — Mohammad 
Hamad'na Allah — Zobheir Pasha's old Wakeel — and 
a party of thirty to forty workmen with materials for 
the tanks. Whenever Abdullahi gave an order, 
immediate execution of it followed. 

I had existed in the vile-smelling Saier for nearly 
four years, and you can imagine how I enjoyed the 
two hours on the river reaching Halfeyeh. On 
arrival at this place, we were met by El Fiki Amin, 
a Fellati then in charge of the works. He did not 
disguise his displeasure at my being taken there, as 
he evidently considered it a slight upon himself. He 
was extracting the saltpetre from mounds, mixing the 
earth and water in pierced jars lined with fine matting, 
allowing the solution to filter through, and then boiling 
it down to obtain the crystals ; his appliances were 
very primitive, but he was producing a very good 
quality of saltpetre in " needles." Yacoub ordered 
me to search the ground for any deposits, and, coming 



A PRISONER AT LARGE 



177 



to a dark damp patch, I tasted the earth, and, believing 
saltpetre to be present, I mixed some of the earth 
with water, pouring off the solution into a small coffee- 
pot, and setting it to boil. More solution was added 
as the water boiled away, and at the end of two hours 
I had a small deposit of a thin syrupy consistence ; 
pouring this upon a burnt brick, the moisture was 
absorbed, leaving the crystals behind, and these on 
being placed on hot charcoal burned away. I next 
took some of the earth, dried it, and rubbing it fine, 
allowed it to fall in a thin stream on to the fire ; the 
"sissing" and occasional coloured sparks convinced 
them that a valuable deposit had been discovered, and 
Hamad'na Allah was sent to Omdurman to inform 
the Khaleefa. 

During his absence, the Fellati told Yacoub that 
the burning of the crystals was no proof that they 
were saltpetre ; I was therefore told to produce 
a quantity to be submitted to Zecki and the 
Greek Perdikaki, the Khaleefa's gunpowder manu- 
facturer. Hassan Zecki came to Halfeyeh to examine 
the crystals and declared them good ; Perdikaki sent 
a Greek employed with him, but he not being able 
to give an opinion, took the crystals to Perdikaki, 
who sent me a message to the effect that they were 
useless, but that rather than I should be sent back 
to prison he would say they were good on condition 
I tried to produce further quantities in " needles," 
and not in grains. On Hassan Zecki presenting his 
report to the Khaleefa, and telling him that I should 
have some large pans sent out to me, he sent off 

N 



178 A PRISONER OF THE KB A LEE FA 

a number of large copper boilers, and an officer's 
camp bath. The latter must have been taken from 
Khartoum or Hicks Pasha's army. The Fellati grew 
very sullen, and Yacoub, knowing that the Khaleefa 
was entirely dependent upon the Fellatis — the only 
people who seemed to understand the extraction of 
the saltpetre — rather than offend the man, asked me 
if I thought I could not find deposits elsewhere. I 
suggested looking further north, but this would not 
do. He wanted a place close to Omdurman — where 
I could be watched. I then suggested Khartoum, 
but the Khaleefa would not at first hear of my transfer 
there. What probably decided him was, that when I 
had been two weeks at Halfeyeh, Hasseena came to 
tell me Makkieh was dead, and the Khaleefa, hearing 
of the loss, and believing that there was now nothing 
to hold me in the Soudan, agreed to the transfer to 
Khartoum, as there a better watch could be kept upon 
me. I was not sorry to leave Halfeyeh, for although 
the place offered every facility for my escape, I saw 
that I had a jealous and bitter enemy in the Fellati, 
who was then spying on my every movement. It 
was certain that he would frustrate any plans I might 
make for flight, and suspicion would have been aroused 
immediately if any of the guides came to me there. 

Hamad'na Allah was made director of the Khar- 
toum saltpetre works ! Abdel Wohatt was his second, 
and I was to work under the orders of Wohatt. On 
arrival at Khartoum, January, 1891, I was also placed 
in charge of Khaleel Hassanein, the director of the 
arsenal, and all three had to answer for me with 
1 



A PRISONER AT LARGE 



179 



their lives. Wohatt was given the chapel of the 
Mission as a house to live in ; I was given one of 
the priest's rooms opposite the arches. Windows, 
doors, every scrap of wood, metal, and ornaments had 
been taken from the place ; it was almost a complete 
ruin, but the garden had been kept in excellent con- 
dition, its produce — dates, figs, oranges, limes, and 
vegetables — being sold on account of the Beit-el-Mal. 
Wohatt, when arranging his sleeping quarters, found 
the altar in his way, and made two or three ineffectual 
attempts to pull it down ; failing, he utilized it as 
a resting-place for household rubbish, and here cocks 
crowed and hens hatched out their broods. 

When we came to construct saturation tanks, it was 
proposed to take the material from the walls of the 
Mission, but I told Hamad'na Allah and Wohatt that 
as we had to live in the place, it would be far better 
to repair than further demolish ; so the necessary 
materials were brought from outside by the fifty to 
sixty slaves sent over to assist us in making the tanks 
and carrying the earth from the mounds. While the 
construction of the tanks proceeded, we had to extract 
saltpetre in the boilers, etc., sent to us at Halfeyeh, 
and which had been brought with us ; we produced 
maybe four to five pounds per diem on an average 
during a period of six months — the time we were 
occupied in building the tanks. Perdikaki made some 
gunpowder with our first consignment ; it was a 
failure. The good fellow, though, mixed it with some 
powder from the old Government stock, and sent us 
another warning. My chief, Abdel Wohatt, was the 



180 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



son-in-law of Ali Khaater, the director of the Omdur- 
man arsenal, to whom our saltpetre went in the first 
instance ; Perdikaki telling him of the bad quality, 
Khaater, fearing for his son-in-law, mixed our next 
consignment with an equal quantity of saltpetre from 
the old Government stock in his stores, and thus it 
passed muster, although Perdikaki complained again 
that it was only half purified. However, the powder 
made with it would explode, though it did leave about 
25 per cent, of ash. The Fellati, hearing of the 
success, came to Khartoum to examine our product, 
for the secret of producing pure crystals was believed 
to be in the hands of the Fellati only, and, as a 
matter of fact, in the Soudan, it is. Again he declared 
the crystals were useless for the purposes they were 
intended for ; but as Abdel Wohatt had been a dis- 
penser in the Egyptian Army, and as such was sup- 
posed to be a chemist, and I, as a medicine man, being 
similarly credited, we won the day. Fellati appealed 
to Perdikaki, but got no satisfaction in that quarter. 
But Perdikaki was not long to be troubled with the 
rival saltpetre makers ; on the sixth anniversary of 
Gordons death, some tins of powder in his factory 
exploded, killing him and those working with him. 

Some time about June or July, 1891, our tanks were 
finished ; in about two months' time we produced 
between five or six cwts. of crystals, and then stopped 
work on account of the rains. These crystals were 
mixed with an equal quantity of good crystals from 
the stores, and were sent to the powder factory. It 
must not be imagined that at this time the Khaleefa 



A PRISONER AT LARGE 181 

was actually short of powder or ingredients for its 
manufacture ; there were, unknown to others in the 
town, very large stocks indeed, which Abdullah was 
keeping as a reserve, but he wished to add to that 
reserve as much as possible, and to expend only such 
powder and ammunition as was then and there 
produced. 

On the death of Perdikaki, Hassan Hosna — a Cir- 
cassian, and, I believe, formerly an officer in the old 
army — and Abdes Semmeer, formerly in the ordnance 
section of the old army at Kassala, were placed in 
charge of the powder factory. When our mixed 
product was used for the manufacture of gunpowder, 
strange things happened. After a few cartridges 
made from such powder had been fired, the barrel of 
the rifle was found coated with a thick white fouling ; 
then an inquiry was held. The rifles were brought 
to us at Khartoum, and, pointing to the cleaning rods, 
I asked what these were intended for ; on being told 
for cleaning the barrel, I asked whether it was not 
better to have a powder which left a white ash which 
might be seen to a powder which left a black ash 
which could not be seen. But, for once, my argument 
was of no use. Wohatt replied that perhaps we were 
working on bad beds, and suggested our being trans- 
ferred somewhere else. Nothing was done at the 
time, and we worked on for some more months ; but 
as large quantities of saltpetre came in from Darfur, 
and later, considerable quantities of good powder came 
from Upper Egypt and by the Suakin route, Khaater 
was able to store away our saltpetre, and supply 



1 82 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



the factory with powder and saltpetre from these 
sources. 

The Upper Egypt and Suakin supplies were sup- 
posed to have been put to the reserve, so that when 
cartridges exploded in the breeches of the rifles, and 
destroyed the eyesight of a number of soldiers, our 
saltpetre came in for the blame again. Another 
inquiry was held, when we were told that the bullet 
did not leave the rifle, and that the breech-blocks blew 
open. This, we argued, could not be the fault of the 
powder, but of the rifle. Whatever the Khaleefa's 
opinion might have been, he sent off Wohatt to Alti 
on the Blue Nile, where, with a number of Fellatis 
working under him, he was able to send considerable 
quantities of " needle " saltpetre to Omdurman, while 
I continued at the Khartoum works to turn out as 
poor a quality of saltpetre as before. Abdel Wohatt 
is in Cairo now, and tells me that our precious produc- 
tion — about two tons of saltpetre — is still lying unused 
in the stores at Omdurman. Khaleel Hassanein and 
Ali Khaater are still alive, and would doubtless smile 
at the legend that I " manufactured powder for the 
Khaleefa to shoot English soldiers with," particularly 
when I forbade the use of wood ash in the saturation 
tanks, and this addition, they knew later, was the 
Fellati secret for the purification of the saltpetre. 

While employed at the Mission-house in Khartoum, 
Father Ohrwalder came on three or four occasions to 
see me, the last occasion being, I believe, about a 
month before his escape. We would sit together 
talking of old times, commiserate each other on our 



A PRISONER AT LARGE 



183 



hard lot, and guardedly, very guardedly, breathe a 
hope that, in some way and by some means, our release 
would come, but I have no recollection that we ever 
confided to each other any plans for escape. Father 
Ohrwalder knew that I had had letters written by 
some Greeks, but I do not think he knew of any of 
my plans. That we did not openly discuss such plans 
now appears to me strange — and yet it is not strange. 
Where all led for years a life of falsehood, in which 
deception of self had a no less part than that of 
others, suspicious of every one around us, trusting 
no one, what wonder that deceit became a second 
nature, and that truth, honour, and morality — that is 
to say, morality as preached in Europe — should have 
retired to vanishing point ! 

When I heard of Father Ohrwalder's escape, the 
conclusion I at once jumped to was that my guides, 
seeing the impossibility of effecting my escape 
from Khartoum, had come to some arrangement 
with him. How fervently I cursed them all, but I 
did not pray for their recapture. Even had I done 
so, it would have been useless. There was nothing, 
provided you had money with which to purchase 
camels and arrange a couple of relays in the desert, 
to prevent every one who wished to, escaping from 
Omdurman. Your guides had only to lead you 
away from any settlements ; no pursuers could over- 
take you once you reached your first relay, fast as 
their camels might go, and you would travel at twice 
the speed the news of your flight could, besides having 
some hours' start of it. In the event of your coming 



t8 4 A PRISONER OF THE KH ALE EE A 



across any straggler on the desert, a few dollars would 
silence his tongue, for the dollar is not more " almighty " 
in America than it was in the Soudan. Supposing 
the dollars did not appeal to him, and: your bullet 
missed its mark, the chances were a thousand to one 
against his picking up your pursuers on the route you 
had come, for they would make to the settlements 
near the river, and waste their time in useless 
inquiries, while you were lengthening the distance 
between you. 



CHAPTER XV 



DIVORCED AND MARRIED 

As if my troubles were not all-sufficient in them- 
selves, Hasseena, in addition to the begging and other 
undesirable proclivities she had developed since the 
death of Makkieh, added that of thieving. She 
naturally devoted her talents in this direction to my 
friends, knowing that they would not, on my account, 
prosecute her. Numberless complaints came to me, 
and many a recommendation was made to get rid of 
her ; but as she had been sent to me by the Khaleefa, 
I could not send her off without his sanction. The 
question also arose as to what excuse I might offer 
for divorcing her ; to give the real reasons might end 
in her being stoned, mutilated, or imprisoned, and 
this I shrank from. I must admit, too, that, bad as 
she was then, I did not like the idea of throwing her 
over. Being in receipt of ten dollars a month, I sent 
word to my friends that I would save what I could to 
repay their losses, and do my best to break Hasseena 
of her bad habits. My friends warned me that if 
I was not careful I should find myself before the Kadi 
as Hasseenas partner in crime ; and the Kadi, being 



1S6 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



no friend of mine, would certainly order me into prison 
again, which would put an end to all chances of escape. 

In the end Hasseena had to go. Nahoum Abba- 
jee, my greatest friend, gave a feast at his house to 
celebrate the marriage of his son Yousef. Hasseena 
was one of the invited guests. She stole all the spoons 
and cutlery before the feast commenced, and also a 
number of articles of dress belonging to other guests, 
all of which she sold in the bazaar. Nahoum could 
overlook her stealing his property, but to steal the 
property of guests under his roof was carrying matters 
too far. He sent word to me that I must get rid of 
her, and at once. Calling Hasseena to Khartoum, I 
was compelled to quarrel with her in such a way as 
to attract the attention of Hamad'na Allah, and on his 
asking me the reason for our constant squabbles, I 
told him that Hasseena was not acting as she should 
by me, and begged his intervention in obtaining 
through the Emir Yacoub the Khaleefa's permission 
to divorce her. Abdullahi was " gracious," permitted 
the divorce, and sent word that he would select another 
wife for me. This was just what I did not want. 
Always expecting the return of my guides, my not 
having a woman in the place lent probability to my 
having a whole night's start upon my pursuers, for my 
absence might not be discovered until sunrise the 
following morning, at which time we went to work, 
and some hours more would be lost — and gained — 
by Hamad'na Allah and others making a thorough 
search for me before daring to tell the Khaleefa that 
I was missing 



DIVORCED AND MARRIED 



187 



Returning my thanks to Abdullahi, I asked to be 
left in single blessedness for a time; but to this he 
replied that " his heart was heavy at the loss of 
my child ; that no man might be happy without 
children, and he wished me to be happy ; he also 
wished me to have all the comforts of life, which did 
not exist where woman was not ; that if I did not take 
another wife, he would believe I was not content with 
my life in the Soudan under his protection." It was 
a long rigmarole of a message he sent, and it wound 
up by saying that as I had been ill for two months, he 
must send a wife to attend to me, and had selected for 
the purpose a daughter of Abd-el-Latif Terran. 

This was making matters worse than ever, for this 
girl, although brought up in the Soudan, and speaking 
only Arabic, was a French subject, being the grand- 
daughter of Dr. Terran, an old employe of the Govern- 
ment. She was only nominally Mohammedan, and lived 
in the " Christian quarter." When marriages took place 
in this quarter, the Mohammedan form of marriage 
was gone through, and then Father Ohrwalder per- 
formed the Christian religious ceremony surreptitiously 
later in the day. I spoke to him about the Khaleefa's 
intention, and as he knew I was already married, he 
advised me to try and get out of the proposed marriage 
by some means or another, as it would be considered 
binding. After casting about for excuses which I 
thought might appeal to the Khaleefa, I asked 
Hamad'na Allah to inform him that I thanked him 
for his selection of a wife, but as she was of European 
descent, had been brought up in a rich family where 



1 88 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



the ladies are waited upon and never do any work, she 
would be no use to me, as I required some one to 
nurse me, do the cooking and house work, and go to 
the bazaar to buy food, all of which she had had 
servants to do for her ; I therefore begged to be 
allowed to select a wife of the country. 

The latter part of my message evidently pleased the 
Khaleefa ; it appeared to him as an earnest that I was 
" content," but again he undertook the selection of the 
woman. When Abdullahi told any woman she was to be 
the wife of any one, she dare no more refuse to accept 
than the one she was sent to dare refuse to receive 
her. Fearing that he might send me some one from 
his hareem, I asked Nahoum and other friends to find 
me a wife — sharp. My object was to get her into 
the place before Abdullahi sent his " present," whom, 
on arrival, I might send back on the plea that I was 
already married, and could not support two wives. 
Nahoum found me a wife, and sent me the following 
history of her. 

Umm es Shole (the mother of Shole — Shole being 
the name she had given her first child) was an 
Abyssinian brought up from childhood in a Greek 
family settled in Khartoum. On reaching woman- 
hood, she was married to one of the sons of the 
family. On the fall of Khartoum, her husband, with 
seven male relatives, was butchered in the house in 
which they had taken refuge ; Umm es Shole, with her 
three children, was taken as " property " to the Beit-el- 
Mal, where she was handed over as a concubine to 
the Emir of the Gawaamah tribe. Refusing this 



UMM ES SHOLE AND TWO CHILDREN. 



DIVORCED AND MARRIED 189 

man's embraces, he in revenge tortured her children 
to death, upon which Umm es Shole escaped to 
Omdurman. Through Abd-el-Kader, the uncle of the 
Mahdi, she had her case brought before Mohammad 
Ahmed, who, after listening to the details, gave her a 
written document declaring that, as she had been 
married to and borne children to a free man, she was 
a free woman, but to make certain that she might 
never be claimed as a slave, the document also 
declared that she was " ateekh " (freed) by him. 

When Abdullahi succeeded the Mahdi, he ordered 
every woman without a husband, and every girl of a 
marriageable age, to be married at once. He was 
most particular that every one in the "Christian 
quarter " should be married. Umm es Shole married 
an old and decrepit Jew, whom she nursed until he 
died two years later. Returning to a woman relative 
of her husband's, she supported the old woman and 
herself by cooking, preparing food for feasts, sewing, 
and general housework. 

This was the wife my friends had selected for me, 
and I accepted her thankfully ; but when she was 
approached on the subject, she positively declined to 
be married again, and it was only upon her being told 
that I was ill, and might die, that she consented to the 
marriage. I had to appoint a " wakeel " (proxy, in 
this instance) to represent me at the marriage and the 
festivities ; Nahoum prepared the feast at his house, 
the bride preparing the food and attending to the 
guests. At the conclusion of the few days' cere- 
monies and feastings, Umm es Shole was escorted 



1 9 o A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

to Khartoum — a married woman, and introduced for the 
first time to her husband. She set to at once with her 
household duties and attendance upon me, and during 
a long and weary five months nursed me back to life. 

As can well be believed, Hasseena resented no less 
bitterly my projected marriage with Umm es Shole, 
or any one else, than she resented her divorce, and 
this she resented very bitterly indeed, for passing as 
the wife of a European and a presumed " General " to 
boot, gave her a certain social status in Omdurman, 
which she took advantage of when visiting in the 
various ways pointed out. On my saying to her, 
" You are divorced," which is the only formula 
necessary in Mohammedan countries in such a 
momentous domestic affair, she promptly replied that 
she was again pregnant. A few words on the subject 
of divorce in the Soudan — and the rules are practi- 
cally identical with those laid down in the Quoranic 
law — will assist towards an appreciation of the fix 
this declaration of Hasseena placed me in. 

If a woman, on being told "you are divorced," 
declared herself with child, the husband was compelled 
to keep her until its birth ; if it was a son, the divorce 
was null and void ; if a daughter, the husband had to 
support the wife during two years of nursing, and pro- 
vide for the child until her seventh year, when he 
might, if he chose to do so, claim her as his daughter. 

When a woman was divorced for the first time, she 
was not allowed to marry again without the consent 
of the husband ; this was giving him a " first call " if 
he wanted her back, for divorce might be declared for 



DIVORCED AND MARRIED 



less trivial things than incompatibility of temper. If 
the husband took her back, and divorced her a second 
time, the woman was free to marry, but if the husband 
again wanted her, he had to pay her a marriage dowry 
as at her first marriage. Should he divorce her a 
third time, and again want her back, he would have 
to arrange for her to be married to — and divorced 
from — some one else first, when she was free to 
return to him. All this may sound very immoral 
to people in Europe, but one cannot help but admire 
the simplicity of the proceedings ; and consider the 
amount of domestic infelicity it prevented. There is 
no public examination of the parties concerned ; no 
publication of interesting details in newspapers ; some 
little thought is given to the woman who may have 
been the mother of your children, and should she have 
slipped in the path of virtue, you do not shout it from 
the housetops ; the marriage was a private arrange- 
ment between you, so is the divorce, and the reasons 
for the latter are your affair and no one else's. 

I have touched upon divorce in some detail, as 
many re-marriages under all the conditions given 
above occurred, and some family records became a 
hopeless tangle to all but those immediately con- 
cerned. When the new Soudan Government comes 
to settle up claims to properties, they will be con- 
fronted with a collection of " succession " puzzles to 
solve, for one woman might be the proud mother of 
the legitimate heirs of three or four different people, 
and being, as the widow and mother of the heritor, 
entitled to a fixed proportion of the properties, you 



192 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

may be quite sure that she will fight to the death for 
her sons' interests. 

Hasseena ought not to have been in the interesting 
state she declared she was, for we had been separated 
for a much longer period than that ordained by law. 
I was obliged to tell her that if she empanelled a jury, 
after the example of Idris es Saier, all the explana- 
tions they might offer would not convince me that I 
held any more relationship to the child than I did 
to Makkieh, and there was nothing now to induce 
me to claim the paternity, — indeed just the reverse. 
However, if Hasseena was with child, I should be 
bound to keep her for at least two years, and if the 
Khaleefa sent on his present, I should have two 
households to support on ten dollars a month. When 
making my plans for escape, Hasseena was included ; 
she was to have got away on the same dromedary as 
myself. When my guides returned, they would find 
me with two wives, and having made arrangements 
for one only, they might demur at taking the two. 
The probabilities were they would abandon the thing 
altogether, fearing that one or the other might betray 
them, which meant instant execution for them and 
imprisonment for me. If I kept Hasseena, she might 
steal from some stranger, as the houses of my friends 
were now closed to her, and then I should be sent 
back to the Saier ; if I sent her away, she, knowing 
my guides and all my arrangements, would be the 
first to meet them on arrival in Omdurman, and would 
insist upon coming away with me under threats of dis- 
closing the plot. It was a most awkward fix for me 



DIVORCED AND MARRIED 



i93 



to be placed in ; but after considering the whole matter 
most carefully, I decided upon sending Hasseena off, 
and trusting to luck for the rest. I had hoped she 
might get married to some one in Omdurman, and 
then I should not have been afraid of her. But 
Hasseena returned in February, 1892, some months 
after my marriage with Umm es Shole, carrying a 
little bundle of male humanity, who had only been 
three or four months less tardy in arrival than 
Makkieh. 

Hasseena, doubtless, had for me the Soudan equiva- 
lent for what we understand as affection ; she had 
saved my life when we were first captured ; she had 
nursed me, as only a woman can nurse one, through 
my first attack of typhus fever, and had kept me from 
starvation during the famine. But while I could not 
forget all this, I could not forget also that she had 
become a source of great danger to me, and although 
my treatment of her in sending her away when I did, 
might to some appear harsh in the face of what she 
had done for me, it must not be forgotten that self- 
preservation is no less a law of nature in the Soudan 
than it is elsewhere. I supported Hasseena for 
nearly two years, when her child died. She then 
left Khartoum, where I was still a chained prisoner at 
large, and went utterly to the bad. I heard of her 
from time to time, and, on my release in September 
last, hearing that she was at Berber, I delayed there 
until I had hunted her out of the den of vice in which 
she was living, and provided for her elsewhere, only 
to receive a telegram a few weeks later to say that, 

o 



i 9 4 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



hankering for the life which she had led for a few 
years back, she had run off to return to it. 

It was this action of mine, which probably gave rise 
to the legend that I had brought her to Cairo with 
me, where my wife arrived, " only to be confronted 
with a black wife after all her years of mental anxiety 
and sufferings." Why facts should be so persistently 
misconstrued, I cannot understand. In making that 
last — and I do not say final — effort, to do something 
for the woman to whom, at one time, I owed so much, 
I feel I have nothing to be ashamed of. Those who 
think differently must remember that it takes one 
some little time to fall again into European ideas and 
thoughts after twelve years of chains and slavery 
amongst the people whom I was compelled to associate 
with ; and no one in the Soudan was more out of the 
world than I was. 



CHAPTER XVI 



HOPE AND DESPAIR 

While still a prisoner in the Saier, Mankarious 
Effendi, with Mohammad Fargoun and Selim Aly, 
engaged a man of the Ababdeh, Mohammad Ajjab, to 
make his way to Omdurman with a threefold object : 
he was to inquire if I was still alive ; if so, to pay me 
a hundred dollars, and then to try and make arrange- 
ments for my escape. On arrival in Omdurman, Ajjab 
met two of his own people — Mohammad and Karrar 
Beshir — who recommended him, when he inquired 
about me, never to mention my name if he wished to 
keep his head on his shoulders. They could only tell 
him that I was still in prison, chained, and under 
sentence of death. Similar information and the same 
recommendation were given to him by people in the 
Muslimanieh quarter ; but a Greek whom Ajjab knew 
only by his Mahdieh name of Abdallah, said that he 
would arrange for a meeting between him and my 
servant. Through Hasseena, Ajjab sent me word of 
the object of his coming to Omdurman. As the Greek 
offered to become my trustee, Ajjab handed him the 
hundred dollars, taking from him a receipt, and sending 



196 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



the receipt to me concealed in a piece of bread, to be 
countersigned. Ajjab was to return to Assouan, let 
my friends know how matters stood, and tell them 
that I would try and communicate with them, if I 
ever got released from prison, as escape from the 
prison was an impossibility. Ajjab returned to 
Assouan, and handed over the receipt ; but the tale 
he had to tell put an end, for the time being, to any 
attempts to assist me further. 

When Father Ohrwalder escaped, bringing with him 
the two sisters and negress, Mankarious set about 
immediately to find some reliable messenger willing to 
undertake the journey to Omdurman with a view of 
ascertaining if my escape was at all possible. He 
argued that if Father Ohrwalder could escape with 
three women as an encumbrance to his flight, there 
was nothing, provided I was at liberty, to prevent my 
escaping ; but those who knew the Soudan — and it 
was only such he might employ — argued that if the 
remainder of the captives were not already killed, 
they would be found chained in the prison awaiting 
their execution. Months slipped away before he 
could find any one to undertake the journey, and then 
an old but wiry desert Arab, El Haj Ahmad Abou 
Hawanein, came to terms with him. Hawanein was 
given two camels, some money, and a quantity of 
goods to sell and barter on his way up. 

Some time in June or July, 1894, Abou Kees, a 
man employed in the Mission gardens, came to me 
while I was working at the mounds of Khartoum, and 
whispered that a man who had news for me was 



HOPE AND DESPAIR 



197 



hiding in the gardens, and that I was to try and effect 
a meeting with him. The man was Hawanein. 
Always suspicious of traps laid for me by the 
Khaleefa, I asked the man what he wanted. He 
replied that he had come from friends to help me. 
He had brought no letters, but by questioning him my 
suspicions disappeared, and I was soon deep in the 
discussion of plans for my escape. The camels he had 
brought with him were, he said, not up to the work of 
a rapid flight, and he suggested that he should return 
to Assouan, procure two good trotting camels, and also 
the couple of revolvers I asked for, as it was more 
than likely I should have to use them in getting clear 
of Khartoum. 

Soon after Hawanein's departure, the guide Abdallah, 
who brought away Rossignoli, put in his appearance. 
Ahmed Wad-el-Feki, employed in Marquet's old 
garden, asked that I might be allowed to call and see 
a sick man at his house. On reaching the place, Feki 
introduced me to a young man, Abdallah, who, after a 
few words, asked me to meet him the following day, 
when he would bring me a letter. I met my "patient" 
again, when he handed me a bit of paper on which faint 
marks were discernible ; these, he said, would come out 
clear upon heating the paper, and, as cauterization is 
one of the favourite remedies in the Soudan, some live 
charcoal was procured without exciting any suspicion. 
The words, which appeared, proved that the man was 
no spy, but had really come from the Egyptian War 
Office; however, before we had time to drop into a 
discussion of plans, some men employed in the place 



198 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

came near, and we had to adjourn to the following 
day, when I was again to meet my " patient." On 
this occasion we were left undisturbed, and fully dis- 
cussed and settled upon our plans. 

To escape along the western bank of the Nile 
was not to be thought of ; this would necessitate our 
passing Omdurman, and to pass the town unobserved 
was very improbable. Abdallah, having left his 
camels and rifle at Berber, was to return there for 
them, and come up the eastern bank of the Nile, 
along which we were to travel when I escaped. 
During his absence I was to send Umm es Shole on 
weekly visits to her friends at Halfeyeh ; as she was 
to escape with us, this arrangement was made for a 
twofold purpose. First, her visits would not excite 
suspicion at the critical moment, as the people both at 
Halfeyeh and Khartoum would have become accus- 
tomed to them ; she was also to bring me the promised 
revolver concealed in her clothes, and then return to 
Halfeyeh for another visit. She and Abdallah would 
keep a watch on the banks of the Blue Nile for me 
and assist me in landing. My escape would have to 
be effected in my chains, and these, of course, would 
prevent my using my legs in swimming. I was to 
trust for support to the pieces of light wood on the 
banks, used by children and men when disporting 
themselves in the Nile, and to the current and what- 
ever help I might get with my hands for landing on 
the opposite shore. 

Abdallah went off, but never came back. I kept to 
our agreement for months, for the plan formed with 



HOPE AND DESPAIR 



199 



Abdallah was similar to that arranged with Hawanein. 
Besides this, Abdallah, in the event of not being able 
to find revolvers at Berber, was to continue his 
journey to the first military post, obtain them there, 
and exchange his camels for fast-trotting ones, as those 
he had left at Berber were of a poor race. In order 
to prove to any officer he met that he was really em- 
ployed to effect my escape, I gave him two letters 
couched in such words that, should they fall into the 
hands of the Khaleefa or any of the Emirs, their con- 
tents would be a sort of puzzle to them. Each day 
during those months I looked forward eagerly to a 
sign from any one of the people entrusted with my 
escape. 

For various reasons I considered it advisable to 
interview Abdallah after my release, and did so ; but to 
make certain of his explanations, I also arranged that 
others should question him on the subject of Rossig- 
noli's flight and his reasons for not keeping his engage- 
ment with me, and this is what he says. 

On leaving Cairo, he was given a sort of double 
mission ; he was promised three hundred pounds if he 
brought me away safely, and a hundred pounds if he 
brought away any of the other captives. Seeing the 
difficulties to be encountered in effecting my escape, 
and appreciating the risks, unless we had revolvers 
and swift camels, he decided upon " working out the 
other plan," as he expresses it, viz. the escape of 
Rossignoli, as " he was at liberty and could go any- 
where he pleased," whilst I was shackled and constantly 
under the eyes of my guards. Instead of returning 



2oo A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

for the camels, Abdallah arranged for Rossignoli to 
escape on a donkey as far as Berber. When some 
distance from Omdurman, Rossignoli got off his 
donkey, squatted on the ground, and refused to budge, 
saying he was tired. Abdallah tried to persuade 
him to continue the journey, but Rossignoli refused, 
said Abdallah was only leading him to his death, and 
demanded to be taken back to Omdurman. For a 
few moments Abdallah admits that he was startled and 
frightened. To go back to Omdurman was madness 
and suicide for him ; to leave Rossignoli squatting in 
the desert made Cairo almost as dangerous for him as 
Omdurman, for who would believe his tale there ? He 
felt sure he would be accused of having deserted the 
man, and there was also the chance of Rossignoli 
being discovered by pursuers, when a hue and cry 
would be set up for Abdallah. 

One cannot help but admire Abdallah's solution 
of the difficulty. There was a tree growing close 
by ; he selected from it a good thick branch, and 
with this flogged Rossignoli either into his right 
senses or into obedience to orders ; then placing him 
on the camel behind him, he made his way to Berber. 
Here Rossignoli, instead of keeping in hiding, 
wandered into the town, was recognized by some 
people, and, when spoken to, told them that Abdallah 
was leading him to Egypt, but that he preferred to 
return to Omdurman. Fortunately native cupidity 
saved Abdallah ; he baksheeshed the people into a 
few hours of silence, with great difficulty got his charge 
clear of the town, and with still greater difficulty 



HOPE AND DESPAIR 



201 



hammered and " bullydamned " him into Egypt and 
safety. This is Abdallah's own tale. He assures me, 
and I believe him, that it was his intention, as soon 
as he had handed over Rossignoli safe, to have asked 
for the revolvers and started back to try and effect my 
escape, risky as he knew it to be ; but as Rossignoli 
had betrayed his name in Berber, he knew well 
that the Khaleefa would have men waiting for him 
from Omdurman to the frontier, and he showed no 
better sense in flogging Rossignoli, than he showed in 
settling down with his well-earned hundred pounds 
rather than attempting to make it into four hundred 
by passing the frontier. 

Rossignoli's absence was not noticed for a little 
time, and fortunately, for a donkey leaves better tracks 
to follow than a camel. The Khaleefa was not par- 
ticularly angry about the affair, although he imprisoned 
for a day Mr. Cocorombo, the husband of Sister 
Grigolini, the former superioress of Father Ohrwalder's 
Mission, and Rossignoli's lay companion, Beppo ; but 
the latter, after Slatin's escape, became my fellow- 
prisoner in the Saier. 

One would be inclined to believe that either myself 
or some dramatist had purposely invented the series 
of accidents, which cropped up to frustrate every one 
of my plans for escape. On February 28, 1895, 
without a word of warning, I was so heavily loaded 
with chains that I was unable to move, and I was 
placed under a double guard in the house of Shereef 
Hamadan, the Mahdist Governor of Khartoum. At 
first I surmised that either Abdallah or Hawanein 



202 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



had been suspected and imprisoned, or had con- 
fessed, or that our plots had been divulged in 
some way, so that it was with no little surprise I 
heard the questions put to me concerning the escape 
of Slatin. I denied all knowledge of the escape, or 
any arrangement connected with it. I pointed out 
that I had not seen, spoken to, or heard of Slatin 
directly for eight years, as my gaolers and guards 
could prove. It was from no sense of justice to me, 
but to prove that he had not neglected his duty in 
keeping a strict watch upon me, that Hamadan took 
my part in the inquiry. I might have been again 
released, had Hawanein not put in his appearance a 
few days after the escape of Slatin was discovered. 

Slatin's absence from his usual post had not been 
reported to the Khaleefa until three days after his 
escape ; he was supposed to be ill. On the third day, 
Hajji Zobheir, the head of the Khaleefa's bodyguard, 
sent to his house to inquire about him. Not being 
satisfied with the reply he received, he informed the 
Khaleefa, who ordered an immediate search. A letter 
from Slatin to the Khaleefa was found sticking in the 
muzzle of a rifle, and was taken to Abdullahi. After 
the usual string of compliments and blessings, the 
letter continues — 

" For ten years I have sat at your gate ; your goodness and grace 
has been great to me, but all men have a love of family and country ; 
I have gone to see them ; but in going I still hold to the true 
religion. I shall never betray your bread and salt, even should I 
die ; I was wrong to leave without your permission ; every one, 
myself included, acknowledges your great power and influence ; 
forgive me ; your desires are mine ; I shall never betray you, 



V 




SAID BEY GUMAA. 



HOPE AND DESPAIR 



203 



whether I reach my destination or die upon the road ; forgive me ; 
I am your kinsman and of your religion; extend to me your 
clemency.* 

Abdullahi, on first realizing that Slatin had actually 
escaped, and had had about three days start of any 
pursuers he might send after him, was furious ; losing 
his temper, he anathematized him in the presence of 
the assembled Emirs, Kadis, and bodyguard. He re- 
minded them that when Slatin first tendered his sub- 
mission, he had been received with honours because 
he had openly professed the Mohammedan faith 
and had been circumcised while still the " Turk " 
Governor- General of Darfur ; he reminded them also 
how Slatin had been allowed to bring into the camp 
his household, bodyguard, and servants, and had been 
attached to the Mahdi's personal suite, of which he, 
Abdullahi, was chief ; how, with Zoghal, his former 
subordinate, he had been entrusted with the subjuga- 
tion of Said Gumaa, who had refused to surrender El 
Fasher when ordered by him to do so ; how he himself 
had treated him as his son and his confidant, never 
taking any step without his advice and guidance ; but, 
suddenly pulling himself up, seeing the mistake he 
had made in showing how much he had been de- 
pendent on him, he broke off short to say what he 
would do to Slatin if he ever laid hands on him, and 
promised a similar punishment to any one else who 
returned him ingratitude for his favours. Reading 

* This letter was found on the fall of Omdurman, and came into the hands of people who, 
probably on the ground of its contents differing from those given by Slatin after his escape, 
published it in such a manner as to lead people to believe that the protestations of loyalty it 
contained were sincere. In my opinion the letter should be looked upon as a clever composition 
to humbug Abdullahi, so that, in the event of Slatin being retaken, the protestation of loyalty 
would at least save him from the hands of the Khaleefa's mutilator or executioner. 



204 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



out aloud Slatins letter to him, he calmed down on 
reaching the protestations of loyalty, and ordered the 
letter to be read in the mosque and the different 
quarters of Omdurman. Abdullahi has been con- 
sidered as an ignorant brutal savage, devoid of all 
mental acumen, and but little removed from the brute 
creation. As I may be able to show later, such an 
expression of opinion either carries a denial with it, 
or it is paying a very poor compliment to those 
who, once governors of towns and provinces, or high 
officials, should have bowed down, kissed hands, and 
so far prostrated themselves as to kiss the feet of the 
representatives of this " ignorant brute," by whom for 
years they had been dominated. Since Abdullahi 
respected me, as a man, by keeping me constantly 
in chains, I respect him for the intellectual powers 
he displayed, and which apparently paralyzed those 
of others who submitted to him. 

Slatin, having given a good account of himself 
in his many fights, was, after his submission, looked 
up to as the military genius of the Mahdist army ; 
he could not, as I did, play any pranks with the 
work he was entrusted with ; the map he had 
drawn of Egypt, showing the principal towns and 
routes, and upon which the former telegraph-clerk, 
Mohammad Sirri, had been instructed to write the 
Arabic names, had given some the idea that no ex- 
pedition might be planned without the aid of Slatin 
and this map. Abdullahi's object in having the letter 
publicly read will be divined ; first, it would assure 
the dervishes themselves that there was no fear of 



HOPE AND DESPAIR 



205 



Slatin, after his protestations of loyalty, returning at 
the head of the Government troops to overthrow the 
rule of the Mahdi, and without help from the exterior 
the wavering Mahdists could not hope to throw 
off the yoke of Abdullahi. Moreover, the reading of 
the letter to the Christian captives would confirm 
the opinion formed by many, that Slatin was at 
heart with the present Soudan dynasty, and that 
they could not expect any help as a result of his 
escape. 

There is another incident, which must be here 
mentioned, to show how acute Abdullahi really was. 
Slatin had publicly proclaimed his conversion to 
Mahommedanism before his submission to the Mahdi, 
so that, when he did submit, he was accepted as one 
of the faithful, and treated as one of themselves. The 
remainder of the captives — those taken before and 
after the fall of Khartoum — had not, up to the time of 
the escape of Rossignoli, been actually accepted as 
Muslims. At the suggestion of Youssef Mansour, 
on January 25, 1895, tne Khaleefa was gracious 
enough to take all into his fold as real converts to 
the faith, and, on the anniversary of Gordon's death, 
all the Muslimanieh (Christians) were ordered to be 
circumcised, the only two people not being operated 
upon being, I believe, Beppo, who was overlooked 
while in prison, and an old Italian mason, who 
pleaded old age as an excuse for not undergoing 
the operation. The Christian quarter was, therefore, 
at the time of Slatin's escape, considered as a Muslim 
community, and the practical immunity they had 



2o6 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



enjoyed from a rigorous application of the Mahdieh 
laws was thereby put an end to. 

Consequently, when Slatin escaped, leaving behind 
him such protestations of loyalty, the safest card 
the Khaleefa could play was to read to them his 
letter. The reading of it caused some little con- 
sternation and comment, no doubt, but I have already 
expressed my opinion as to the light in which this 
letter should be considered. It was a clever move 
of Abdullahi ; the public reading of the letter blasted 
all hopes on the part of the discontented Soudanese 
of any assistance from Slatin in crumbling to dust 
the kingdom of the Khaleefa, and put an end to 
all hopes on the part of the former Muslimanieh 
captives of release, for the small proportion of old 
Government employes who had, up to then, firmly 
believed that Slatin was acting, as they express it, 
"politeeka " in all his dealings, now joined the ranks 
of those who believed differently. But in this they 
were, of course, mistaken. 

After the public reading of the letter, the Khaleefa 
sent for the officials of the Beit-el- Mai and ordered 
them to take possession of Slatin's house, wives, 
servants, slaves, land, and cattle, at the same time 
giving them strict instructions, in the presence of all, 
that the household were to be treated gently, as being 
the property of a true Muslim. His Darfurian wife, 
Hassanieh, whom he had married when Governor- 
General of Darfur, was claimed from the Beit-el- Mai 
by Dood (Sultan) Benga as of a royal family, and was 
by him married to another of the Darfurian royal 



HOPE AND DESPAIR 



207 



family. Desta, his Abyssinian wife, was within a few 
days of her confinement, and either, as a result of fright 
at the ransacking of the house and her reduction to 
the position of a common slave, or as a result of what 
would be to her, in her then delicate condition, rough 
handling, gave birth to a baby boy, who survived but 
a few weeks. 

It was while the Khaleefa was awaiting the return 
of the scouts sent out to recapture Slatin that 
Hawanein put in his appearance at Omdurman. He 
was at once seized, accused of assisting in the escape 
of Slatin, and also of having returned to effect mine. 
Pleading ignorance of myself and Slatin, he was not 
believed ; he was first sent into the Saier, and then, 
as he refused to confess, he was taken out and publicly 
flogged. Even this did not extort a confession ; the 
Khaleefa, not being satisfied, ordered another flogging, 
but the Bisharas interceded for Hawanein, and suc- 
ceeded in obtaining his release. As my would-be 
deliverer passed through the portals of the Saier, I 
passed in (March 26, 1895). Hawanein lost no time 
in returning to Assouan, where the relation of his 
experiences, with his torn back and unhealed wounds 
to bear him out, put an end finally to all attempts in 
that quarter to assist me in any way whatever. 

It might be as well that I should not attempt to 
describe my mental condition on finding myself again 
in the Saier. I have a faint idea of what my state 
must have been ; despair cannot describe it ; insanity 
at blasted hopes might. Yes, I must have been in- 
sane ; but I was mentally sound, if such a contradiction 



208 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



of terms is permissible. I remember that for days I 
shuffled about, refusing to look at or speak to any 
one. Perhaps what brought me round was that, in 
my perambulations, I came near the Saier anvil and 
heard a man crying. It was Ibrahim Pasha Fauzi, 
Gordon's old favourite, who was being shackled. My 
expostulations on his acting as a child and bullying 
him into a sense of manhood, again prevented that 
slender thread between reason and insanity snapping. 
It must, in some way, have calmed and comforted me 
to be brought to the knowledge that others were 
suffering as much as I was ; and just as a child, which 
requires care and attention itself, gives all its affection 
and sympathy to a limbless doll, so must I have 
given my sympathy to Fauzi, and in so doing taken 
a step back from the abyss of insanity, which I was 
certainly approaching. 



CHAPTER XVII 

A NEW OCCUPATION 

When Said Abdel Wohatt was transferred from the 
Khartoum to the Alti saltpetre works, his father-in- 
law, Ali Khaater, the storekeeper of the Omdurman 
arsenal, considered that he was no longer under the 
obligation of risking his neck by mixing the Khartoum 
product with the Fellatis, or substituting it with good 
saltpetre in stock. A consignment of mine was con- 
sequently sent direct to the powder factory, and was 
used in making what Abd es Semmieh and Hosny, 
the directors, believed would be a good explosive/ 
The result, while being eminently satisfactory to 
myself, was just the reverse for the people responsible 
for making the powder. Not being certain where the 
fault actually lay, they mixed this powder with a 
quantity of really good powder made from the Fellati's 
product, only to succeed in spoiling the whole bulk. 
When my next consignment was sent in they carried 
out some experiments, and, discovering where the 
fault lay, sent me an intimation that if our works did 
not turn out saltpetre equal in quality to that formerly 
supplied by us, I should be reported to the Khaleefa. 
Nahoum Abbajee, hearing of the affair, came to me in 

p 



2io A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



a state of excitement, and pointed out the danger I 
was running into, and as he was then trying to think 
out an invention for coining money, he suggested that 
he should apply to the Khaleefa for my services in 
assisting him. This request Abdullahi was only too 
glad at the time to accede to ; saltpetre was coming 
in in large quantities, and he was in great trouble 
about his monetary system. 

As Khaleefa, he was entitled to one-fifth of all loot, 
property, taxes, and goods coming to the Beit-el-Mal ; 
and as all property of whatever description was con- 
sidered to belong primarily to this administration, it 
followed that Abdullahi was entitled to one-fifth of 
the property in the Soudan ; but as he had not much 
use for hides, skins, gum, ivory, and such-like, he 
took his proportion in coin — after putting his own 
valuation upon his share. As the money he took 
from the Beit-el-Mal was hoarded and never came 
into circulation again, a sort of specie famine set in. 
Attempts had been made in the early days of Abdul- 
lahi's rule to produce a dollar with a fair modicum of 
silver; but Nur-el-Garfawi, Adlan's successor at the 
Beit-el-Mal, came to the conclusion, evidently, that 
a coin was but a token, and that it was immaterial 
what it was made of, provided it carried some im- 
pression upon it. The quantity of silver in his dollars 
grew less and less, and then was only represented by 
a light plating which wore off in a few weeks' time. 
When people grumbled, he unblushingly issued copper 
dollars pure and simple. All the dollars were issued 
from the Beit-el-Mal as being of equivalent value to 



A NEW OCCUPATION 



211 



the silver dollar, and when these coins were refused, 
the Khaleefa decreed that all future offenders should 
be punished by the confiscation of their property and 
the loss of a hand and foot. The merchants, though, 
were equal to the occasion ; when an intending pur- 
chaser inquired about the price of an article, the 
vendor asked him in what coinage he intended to 
pay ; the merchant then knew what price to ask. 

As the silver dollars gradually disappeared, the few 
remaining went up enormously in value, until in the end 
they were valued at fifty to sixty of the Beit-el-Mal 
coins, so that an article which could be bought for 
a silver dollar could not be purchased under fifty to 
sixty copper dollars. Although a rate of exchange 
was forbidden, the Beit-el-Mal took advantage of the 
state of affairs by buying in the copper dollars, melting 
them up, recasting, and striking from a different die. 
These coins would be again issued at the value of a 
silver dollar, and the remaining copper dollars in the 
town were put out of circulation by the Beit-el-Mals 
refusal to receive them. To make matters worse, 
the die cutters cut dies for themselves and their 
friends, and it was worth the while of the false (?) 
coiners to make a dollar of better metal than the Beit- 
el-Mal did, and these we re-accepted at a premium. 
The false coinage business flourished until Elias el 
Kurdi, one of the best of the die cutters, was perma- 
nently incapacitated by losing his right hand and left 
foot ; and this punishment, for a time at least, acted as 
a deterrent upon others, leaving the Beit-el-Mal the 
entire monopoly of coinage. 



212 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

Sovereigns might at any time be bought for a 
dollar, for their possessors were glad to get rid of 
them. Being in possession of a gold coin denoted 
wealth, and many people who attempted to change a 
gold coin returned only to find their hut in the hands 
of the Beit-el-Mal officials, searching for the remainder 
of the presumed gold hoard. Failing to find it, 
they confiscated the goods and chattels. The trade 
with the Egyptian frontier, Suakin and Abyssinia, 
was carried on through the medium of barter and the 
Austrian (Maria Theresa) trade dollar. 

It was while the currency question was at its height 
that Abbajee came forward with his scheme for a 
coining press ; and, in order that I might assist him, 
I was transferred to the Khartoum arsenal. I was 
obliged to give up my quarters in the Mission build- 
ings, and live with the bodyguard of thirty Baggaras 
in the house of Hamadan, the Mahdist governor of 
Khartoum. The arsenal was presided over by Khaleel 
Hassanein, at one time a clerk under Roversi, in 
the department for the repression of the slave trade. 
Although ten years had elapsed since the fall of 
Khartoum, the arsenal must have been in as perfect 
working order as when Gordon made it into a model 
Woolwich workshop. Power was obtained from a 
traction-engine, which drove lathes, a rolling-mill, 
drills, etc., while punches, iron scissors, and smaller 
machinery were worked by hand. In the shops proper 
were three engines and boilers complete, ready to be 
fitted into Nile steamers, and duplicates and triplicates 
of all parts of the machinery then in use were ready 



A NEW OCCUPATION 



213 



in case of accidents. Smelting, casting, moulding, 
and modelling were all carried on in the place. The 
storeroom was filled with every imaginable tool and 
article required for the smithy, carpenters' shops, and 
the boats. All the metal of the Soudan had been 
collected here. There were parts of cotton presses ; 
sugar-mills ; bars of steel and iron ; ingots of brass 
and copper ; iron, copper, and brass plates ; the heavier 
class of tools and implements ; and I was assured by 
Osta Abdallah, a rivetter in the shops in Gordon's 
time, that there was material in the place to build 
three more boats and keep the whole fleet going for 
many years. He did not exaggerate either. All 
other administrations were supplied by the Khartoum 
arsenal with whatever they required in the way of 
tools, furniture, iron and other metal work, cartridge 
presses and steel blocks for coinage; and very efficiently 
indeed was the work turned out. 

The little time I spent in the arsenal was of course 
fully occupied with the coinage question. Two men 
were kept constantly engaged casting square steel 
blocks for the Omdurman mint ; these blocks were 
polished and cut in Omdurman, and twenty-five sets 
were generally in use at the same time. Possibly two 
hundred men were employed in the melting of the 
copper and casting it into moulds the size and thick- 
ness of the dollars. The discs were next passed on to 
the people who gave them the impression ; this was 
obtained by placing the disc on the lower block, and 
then hammering the upper block upon it. The im- 
pressions produced were in the main very poor ; the 



214 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



coins spread and split, and the dies were constantly 
splitting and breaking. After we had studied the 
process, and Abbajee had explained his ideas of a 
press, I suggested that we should commence operations 
with the punching-machine. We experimented until 
we had succeeded in smashing dies, spoiling sheets of 
copper, and in the end smashing the machine itself; 
then Abbajee, as the chief of the operations, was 
roundly abused. Being of an excitable temperament, 
he wanted me to take part of the blame, but I only 
laughed at him. Then it was I learned that he had 
just reason to be angry ; he had gone surety for me 
with the Khaleefa, and, as I was expecting Hawanein 
and Abdallah every day, I kept the quarrel going 
until Abbajee left the work in disgust, for I wished 
him to be out of the way when I escaped. His return 
to Omdurman, leaving me in complete charge of the 
invention, put an end to his surety for me. I might 
have saved myself this trouble, and the temporary 
misunderstanding with my old friend, for, before I had 
time to settle upon an idea for a coining press, Slatin 
escaped, and I was taken back to the Saier. 

I have been frequently asked what estimate should 
be put upon the Khaleefa's buried treasure. It is 
next to impossible to say ; one thing only is certain : 
all good gold and silver jewellery and coins have dis- 
appeared during the last fifteen years. Thousands of 
individuals may have their hoards here and there. 
Some idea of what the Khaleefa's treasure may amount 
to might be gleaned from an examination of the Beit- 
el-Mal books, for these were well kept. The real 



A NEW OCCUPATION 



215 



question is, Where is it ? But this is a matter people 
need not trouble themselves about. It was generally 
believed in Omdurman that those who actually buried 
the money were soon afterwards buried themselves. 
"Dead men tell no tales." I doubt myself if the 
Khaleefa's hoards will ever be found — officially. The 
fortunate discoverers are hardly likely to exhibit any 
particular anxiety to ask their friends or the Govern- 
ment to share in their good fortune. Perhaps a small 
amount might be found, but it will be a very small 
one. The few millions he has buried in various places 
will, no doubt, be discovered some day, and we shall 
hear about it — a long time after the fact. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



MY SECOND IMPRISONMENT 

It was some days after my return to the Saier before 
I learned that I had been incarcerated against the 
wish of the Khaleefa and Yacoub ; but Hamadan 
and Khaleel-Hassanein, fearing that I might escape, 
declined to be responsible for me any longer, arguing 
that Slatin's escape had been effected through Govern- 
ment agents, and that mine would certainly follow. 
In deference to the wishes of Hassanein more than 
those of Hamadan, the Khaleefa ordered my return to 
the Saier, but it is very probable that he sent Idris es 
Saier instructions how to treat me ; so that, taking it all 
in all, my life was not rendered so unendurable as it 
had been on my first entry into the prison. Added to 
Abdullahi's kindly interest (?) in me, Idris himself had 
become a sort of reformed character ; he had tasted 
the sweets of imprisonment and the lash which he had 
been so generous with, and had also experienced him- 
self what it was to be robbed on the Nebbi Khiddr 
account. The tables had been completely turned on 
him, and he had learned a lesson. 

When Adlan was executed and his house searched 



MY SECOND IMPRISONMENT 217 

for incriminating papers without result, Idris es Saier 
was accused by the Khaleefa of having assisted Adlan 
in disposing of the documents which he was in search 
of. Idris was imprisoned in his own house and 
flogged into the bargain ; he was in disfavour for some 
time, and this gave released Baggara prisoners an 
opportunity of getting even with him. They ex- 
plained the Nebbi Khiddr affair to Abdullahi, who 
ordered Idris to repay all the moneys he had collected 
on this account ; he was deprived of all he had, but 
right up to the end, any former Baggara prisoner in 
want of a dollar knew where to find one. He pre- 
sented himself to Idris, and asked for a further con- 
tribution towards a settlement of his claim. 

These importunities drove Idris into begging from 
the prisoners, since the Nebbi Khiddr tale would 
only work with prisoners coming in from outlying 
districts, and they were few. As Idris never knew 
when the next call would be made upon him, he 
found it politic to be as kind and considerate to the 
prisoners as possible, and to relax discipline to the 
utmost. This state of affairs, added to the presumed 
instructions of the Khaleefa regarding myself, must 
have accounted for Idris' assembling the gaolers, and 
telling them in my presence that I was only brought 
into the Saier to prevent any Government people from 
carrying me off to Egypt ; that if any one of them 
begged money from me or ill-treated me in any way, he 
would be imprisoned, flogged, and deprived of his 
post ; Umm es Shole and her child were to be allowed 
to come into the prison at any hour they chose — but, 



218 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



and this spoiled all, I was never to be allowed to sleep 
out in the open, and must pass my nights in the Umm 
Hagar. 

I have already described a night in this " Black 
Hole of Calcutta," but it might not be out of place 
to try and give a slight description of the first 
night Ibrahim Pasha Fauzi — one of Gordon's favourite 
officers — spent in that inferno, especially as he wishes 
me to do so. When taken to the anvil, as I have 
already remarked, Fauzi broke down completely, was 
carried off in a swoon to the Umm Hagar, placed 
sitting with his back in the angle of the wall furthest 
from the door, and there left — as I was, to "come 
round." When the first batch of prisoners was driven 
in at sunset, there was room for all to lie down on the 
foul and saturated ground. When the second batch 
was driven in about an hour and a half later, those 
lying down had to sit up with the new-comers, and 
Fauzi's outstretched legs gave a dry and comfortable 
seat to four big Soudanese. I was driven in with the 
third batch after the night prayers, and then all in the 
Umm Hagar had to stand up or be trampled on. 
Fauzi, still suffering from the effects of the shell wound 
he received in one of the sorties from Khartoum, with 
four people sitting or standing on him, and being 
heavily chained as well, was unable to rise to his feet. 
I could hear him from my place near the door feebly 
expostulating with the people who were standing upon 
him ; I thought that maybe he was being trampled to 
death, and in my then frenzied state commenced to 
fight my way towards him, striking friend and foe 



MY SECOND IMPRISONMENT 219 

indiscriminately, and striking harder as I received 
blows in return. A general fight was soon in progress 
over the few yards I had to travel, as none were 
certain in the darkness who struck the blow they had 
received, and struck out at random in retaliation. My 
friends told me afterwards that I was a "shaitan" 
(devil), a mad fool, and showered other dubious com- 
pliments upon me ; but I reached Fauzi. The warders, 
hearing the uproar, had opened the doors, and, as 
usual, commenced to belabour the heads of all they 
could reach with their sticks and whips. While the 
uproar was at its height, and the prisoners swaying 
from side to side, I recognized the voices of one or 
two near Fauzi who were under obligations to me for 
occasional little kindnesses in the way of food ; and, 
enlisting their services on most extravagant promises, 
we tackled the people standing on Fauzi's legs, pushed 
them away, and made a sort of barricade round him 
with our bodies. In clearing the space, we must have 
struck each other as often as we struck those whom 
we wished to get out of the way, and Fauzi could not 
tell whether an attempt was being made to murder or 
to rescue him. When we did at last get him clear, we 
had to use a bit of old rag as a sort of punka in order 
to bring him round ; then he babbled. 

At midnight, the doors of the cell were thrown open 
again, and about twenty men, each wearing a shayba, 
were thrust into the place ; practically there was no room 
for them, but they had to be driven in by some means. 
To make space for them, the gaolers resorted to their 
favourite device of throwing into the cell handfuls of 



220 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



blazing straw and grass, and at the same time laying 
about the bare heads and shoulders of the prisoners 
with their whips. The scene must be imagined. Fauzi, 
seeing the fire falling on the heads of the prisoners, 
believed that he had really been sent to hell — but 
communed with himself in a dazed sort of way as to 
whether he was in hell or not. He appeared to call 
to memory all that he had ever read of the place of 
torment, and tried to compare the picture his brain had 
formed of it from the descriptions, with what he was 
experiencing, coming to the conclusion that he could 
not be in hell, as hell could not be so bad. At this 
stage I was able to get him to take notice of me, and 
we discussed hell and its torments until sunrise ; but 
nothing could even now shake Fauzi's opinion that 
hell could not be as bad as such a night in the Umm 
Hagar, and the worst he can wish any one is to pass 
such a night. To Youssef Mansour he wishes an 
eternity of them.* 

Among others who spent that memorable night in 
the Saier, were Ahmed and Bakheit Egail, Sadik 
Osman, Abou-el-Besher and others from Berber, 
arrested for assisting in the escape of Slatin ; they 
were later transported to the convict station at Gebel 
Ragaf on the evidence of the guide Zecki, who 

* This Mansour was formerly an officer in the Egyptian Army, who had surrendered with the 
garrison at El Obeid. After this surrender, the governor of the town — Mohammad Said Pasha — 
arranged with his old officers and black regiments to seize their arms, on a given signal, and to 
turn against the Mahdists. Mansour, who, as one of Said's former subordinates, was in the plot, 
is thought to have betrayed it to the Mahdi. Said and his principal adherents were sent out of 
camp by Mohammad Ahmed, and quietly done away with ; but Mansour became the favourite of 
the Mahdi, and commanded his artillery at the battle of Omdurman. It is also said that the 
Christian captives were circumcised on his representations, and that he suggested the imprison- 
ment of Fauzi, lest, when the Government troops advanced, Fauzi should seize an opportunity of 
joining them. Yet Mansour is reputed to be coining to Cairo to claim his back pay and pension 
from the Egyptian Government. 



MY SECOND IMPRISONMENT 221 

conducted Slatin from Omdurman to Berber. Zecki 
had been arrested with them on suspicion of complicity 
in the escape, and confessed that he had been engaged 
by Egail and others to bring away from Omdurman a 
man with "cats eyes," but that he did not know who 
the man was. 

Close to the common cell was an offshoot of it — a 
smaller one named " Bint Umm Hagar" (the daughter 
of Umm Hagar), which took the place of the con- 
demned cell in Europe. On my return to prison, I 
learned that my old enemy, Kadi Ahmed, had been 
confined there for a year. The ostensible reason for 
his imprisonment was that he had been in league with 
the false coiners, and had made large amounts of 
money; but the real reason was that the Khaleefa 
was angry with him on account of the death of Zecki 
Tummal, who had conducted the Abyssinian campaign 
when King John was killed. Kadi Ahmed had been 
induced by Yacoub to sentence Zecki to imprisonment 
and starvation ; so when Ahmed's turn came, the 
Khaleefa said, " Let him receive the same punishment 
as Zecki." He was placed in the Bint Umm Hagar, 
and after about ten months the doorway was built up ; 
there Ahmed was left, with his ablution bottle of 
water only, for forty-three days according to one tale, 
and fifty days according to another. When, for days, 
no sounds had been heard from his living tomb, he 
was presumed to be dead ; but on the doorway being 
opened up, to the astonishment, not to say superstitious 
fear, of all, he was still alive, but unconscious, though 
the once big fat Kadi had wasted to a skeleton. 



222 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Abdullahi must have received a fright too, for he 
ordered Ahmed to be tenderly nursed and given small 
doses of nourishing food every twenty-four hours, until 
the stomach was able to retain food given oftener ; 
but in spite of all care and attention, the Kadi died 
on or about May 3, 1895. He was regretted by no 
one but the Khaleefa, in whose hands he had been a 
willing tool, dispensing justice(?) as his master dictated 
it, only to die the lingering death in the end to which 
he had condemned so many at his master's nod. 

Kadi Ahmed's place in the " Bint " was soon taken 
by his successor — Kadi Hussein Wad Zarah. His 
offence was that of refusing to sentence people unjustly, 
when ordered by the Khaleefa and Yacoub to do so. 
When first walled up in his tomb, he was given, through 
a small aperture left for the purpose, a little food and 
water every four or five days, but towards the end of 
July, 1895, the doorway was built up entirely, and 
Zarah, not being a big stout man like Ahmed, starved, 
or rather parched, to death in about twenty-two or 
twenty-three days. It is hot in the Soudan in July. 

During the first weeks of my imprisonment, Umm 
es Shole had little difficulty in begging a small quantity 
of grain, and borrowing an occasional dollar to keep 
us in food. But soon people became afraid of assisting 
us any further, and we were bordering upon semi- 
starvation, when, in the month of September, an 
Abyssinian woman came into the prison to see me 
under pretence of requiring medical treatment. She 
handed me a small packet, which she said contained 
letters from my friends, and which had been given to 



1 MY SECOND IMPRISONMENT 223 

her by a man outside, who had said he also had money 
for me, and wished to know who he should pay it to. 
Three days elapsed before I found an opportunity of 
opening the packet unobserved, for with all letters 
received and written then, I had to wait until I found 
myself alone in the pestilential atmosphere of an annexe 
to the place of ablution. The packet contained a letter 
from my sister posted in 1891, another from Father 
Ohrwalder, and a note from Major Wingate. They 
were all to the same import — to keep up hope, as 
attempts were to be made to assist me. 

Nearly two months must have slipped away before 
I succeeded in getting my replies written. I sent 
these to the guide, Onoor Issa, who promised that he 
would return for me in a few months' time. Father 
Ohrwalder has handed me the letter I sent to him. 
The following is in brief its contents : — 

have received your letter enclosing that of my sister written 
four years ago, and the note from Wingate. Before everything else, 
let me thank you for the endeavours you are to make to assist me. 
Your letter was delayed in reaching me owing to the imprisonment 
of the guide, followed by the watch kept upon us after Slatin's escape, 
and my transfer to the Saier, from which I hope to be released soon. 
There is great need of coins here ; up to the present, no one has been 
able to produce a silver-resembling dollar. If I could produce such 
a coin, it would lead to my release from prison, and lend probability 
to my chances of escape. Could you send me instructions for the 
simple mixing of any soft metals to produce a silvery appearance, and 
send me some ingredients? I should like also an instrument to 
imitate the milling of coins • the dies can be cut here. I should be 
glad of any tools or instruments which you think cannot be had here. 
If I am not released by the time these arrive, I feel sure that I shall 
be released through their agency. Please send the enclosed notes to 
their respective destinations, and when the answers arrive, send them 



224 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



on with the things I ask for. Can you give me any news as to how 
my business is progressing at Assouan, and the transactions of my 
manager? Our common friends here are in a sad way. Slatin will 
have told you all about the forced circumcisions ; and now all the 
Christians have been ordered to marry three or four wives, and are 
engaged with marriage ceremonies. Beppo and I are in prison 
together in chains; other prisoners are Ibrahim Fauzi, Ibrahim 
Hamza, of Berber, who was arrested after Slatin's escape ; Ahmed 
and Bekheit Egail; Sadik and Besher have been transported to 
Equatoria, with two of their relations. Your messenger brought with 
him seventy dollars, which have been given to Beppo, and I enclose 
his receipt for them. Kindly translate the letter I enclose for Win- 
gate; I have written it in German, as no one here but me understands the 
language. Please keep these letters secret. For God's sake, do not 
let the newspaper people get hold of them, as you know, if they did, 
it would cost me my head. Perhaps, if you could get them to give 
as news something like this, it would help me : ' We hear that, after 
the escape of Slatin, Neufeld was secured against escape; he has 
rendered great services to Mahdieh with the saltpetre ; he would be 
able to replace Osta Abdallah, who is now old and feeble ; Neufeld 
is in the greatest distress, and in prison with his certain death close 
at hand ; the people in the Soudan believe he is a relation of 
Slatin.' " 

Onoor Issa went off with my replies, undertaking 
to return in a few months, after having made arrange- 
ments between Berber and Cairo for my escape; and 
during his absence I was to scheme for any excuse to 
get out of prison ; escape from there was impossible. 
Onoor — or the translators of his accounts — are mis- 
taken in saying that he actually met me in prison ; all 
negotiations were carried on through the Abyssinian 
woman whom he employed to come into the prison for 
''medical attendance," or Umm es Shole, and days 
and days elapsed between the visits sometimes, in all 
amounting to maybe two months. There were times 



MY SECOND IMPRISONMENT 



225 



of mental tension in the Saier of Omdurman. To me 
ill luck and good luck appeared to be ever striving for 
the ascendency during my long captivity. Good luck 
gained in the end — the same good luck which had 
accompanied the Sirdar throughout his daring cam- 
paign to conquer, not only Abdullah, but the Soudan, 
and which, God grant, may ever accompany him in 
future campaigns ; but the cup-and-ball-catch-and-miss 
strain was to me terrible. My one prayer was that 
an end might come. Liberty, of course, I hoped for 
to the end ; but I often discovered myself speculating 
as to whether it was true or not that those suddenly 
decapitated by a single blow experienced some seconds 
of really intellectual consciousness, and wondering to 
myself whether, when my head was rolled into the 
dust by the Khaleefa's executioner, there would be 
time to give one last look of defiance. 

Yet when I come to think of it, there was nothing 
very strange in such contemplations. What soldier or 
sailor has not often in his quiet moments tried to picture 
his own death, defiant to the last as he goes down 
before a more powerful enemy ? And, after all, thou- 
sands and thousands of men and women in civilized 
countries are enduring a worse captivity and im- 
prisonment than many did in the Soudan ; but they 
are unfortunate in this — that no one has thrown a 
halo of romance over their sufferings. My lot was a 
hard, very hard one, I must admit ; but the lot of some 
other captives was such that thousands in Europe 
would have been pleased to exchange theirs for it, and 
would have gained in the exchange. 

Q 



CHAPTER XIX 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 

Soon after the departure of Onoor Issa I was saved 
any further trouble in the way of scheming for excuses 
to get out of the Saier. Awwad-el-Mardi, the 
successor of Nur-el-Gerafawi as the Amin Beit-el-Mal 
on the appointment of the latter as director of the 
Khaleefa's ordnance stores, had been approached by 
Nahoum Abbajee and others on the subject of the 
extraction of gold and silver from certain stones which 
had been discovered in the neighbourhood. Awwad 
sent Nahoum to see me about the erection of a crush- 
ing-mill or furnaces. My interview with Nahoum was 
a stormy one. It commenced by his upbraiding me 
for the pranks I had played in smashing the arsenal 
punching-machine when we were associated in the 
establishment of a mint. The more I laughed the 
angrier Nahoum became ; he is deaf, and like most 
deaf people, invariably speaks in an undertone, which 
is as distressing to the hearer as is the necessity he is 
under of bawling back his replies. It is next to im- 
possible to hold a conversation with a deaf person 
without the natural result of raising the voice exhibit- 
ing itself in the features ; the annoyance is there plain 



ONOOR ISSA. 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 



227 



enough, but when the face flushes with the unwonted 
exertion, your deaf friend thinks you are getting 
angry, and follows suit. This is precisely what 
Abbajee did. He showed me his specimens, and I 
bawled into his ear, " Mica — not gold, not silver — 
mica ; " and he yelled back, " Gold, silver, gold." The 
noisy discussion, accompanied as it was with gesticula- 
tions, attracted other prisoners around us, and Nahoum 
went off in high dudgeon. 

When he had gone, a few of my friends asked 
why I did not offer to assist him, and even if the 
thing was a failure, they thought I was clever enough - 
to find something else to do ; but, as they said, 
" promise anything provided it gets you out of 
the Saier." There were excellent reasons, but which 
I might not confide to them, why any work I 
undertook to do should occupy months, and, if 
necessary, years in completion. To offer to assist 
Nahoum in extracting gold and silver from such 
stones meant that two or three weeks at the outside 
would evidence our failure to do so, and then it was 
Saier again for me. Whether any work I undertook 
to do for the Khaleefa was to end in success or failure 
was immaterial to me ; but it was very material that 
the result, whatever it was to be, should not be 
attained for months, as by the time my guides returned, 
the conditions surrounding my escape might have so 
changed as to necessitate an entire change in plans and 
programme. They might even entail the guides' return 
to Cairo or the frontier, and this occupied months. 
But the advice to accept Nahoum's proposals and trust 



223 A PRISONER OF THE KH ALEE FA 



to luck for discovering some other excuse for remain- 
ing out of the Saier when failure could no longer be 
concealed, appealed to me, and, in reply to my offer 
of assistance, a messenger came from the Khaleefa 
ordering the Saier to hand me over to the director of 
the Beit-el- Mai. His other instructions were that the 
bars and heavy chains were to be taken off my feet 
and legs, and that I was to be secured by a single pair 
of anklets connected with a light chain. While this 
change was being made I received the congratulations 
of the gaolers and prisoners, and (February, 1896) 
was escorted out of the prison by two guards to enter 
upon a new industry which had in it as much of the 
elements of success as would accompany an attempt 
to squeeze blood out of a cobbler's lap-stone. I had 
not forgotten Shwybo's fate. 

When I reached Khartoum, Awwad-el-Mardi had 
not yet arrived. It was the month of Ramadan, and 
as all transactions were in abeyance until after sunset, 
I was not allowed to land until Awwad arrived to hand 
me over officially. I was left alone on one of Gordon's 
old steamers, moored at the spot where Gordon fell, 
and where the victorious Sirdar and his troops landed 
to conduct the burial service. During the hours I 
had to wait gazing at the ruined town and the dis- 
mantled palace which saw the martyrdom of as good 
a man and soldier as ever trod this earth, I ruminated 
over his blasted hopes and my own. I shall not pre- 
tend to call to mind all the thoughts which surged 
through my brain as I paced alone over the shell- and 
bullet-splintered deck ; but you can imagine what they 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 



229 



were when I reflected that I was the only European 
in the Soudan who had fired a shot for Gordon, and 
that I was now a captive in the hands of the successor 
of the Mahdi, gazing at the ruined town from which, 
just eleven years ago, we had hoped to rescue its 
noble defender. I should be ashamed to say that 
when Awwad did at last come I was not in tears. 

I felt more acutely than I did when first taken to 
Khartoum to be " impressed," and still more acutely 
than when I was hurriedly bundled into the old 
Mission to start the saltpetre works. For the first 
time since my captivity I had been left absolutely 
alone. I was sitting on one of that fleet of " penny 
steamers " which, had Gordon not sent down the Nile 
to bring up his rescuers, might have saved him and 
the Soudan in spite of the wicked delay resulting 
from the attempt to make a theatrically impressive 
show of an expedition intended to be one of flying 
succour to the beleaguered garrison and its brave 
commander, praying for months for the sight of 
one single red coat. Gordon, I had been told, to- 
wards the end, called the Europeans together in 
Khartoum, and telling them that, in his opinion, 
the Government intended to sacrifice him, recom- 
mended them to make their escape. A deliberate 
attempt to sacrifice him could not have succeeded 
better. What wonder, when such thoughts as these 
and many others had been affecting me for hours, 
that when Awwad came, as darkness was setting in, 
the darkness of night had settled too upon my mind. 
He, believing that my chains were the real cause of 



2 so A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



my depression, ordered that they should be exchanged 
immediately for lighter and smoother ones, for the 
anklets and chains given me by Idris were rough in 
the extreme. 

After being officially handed over to the Governor 
of Khartoum, the question arose as to my quarters. 
I was offered quarters in his house, but I had already 
experienced life amongst his Baggara bodyguard, and 
begged hard to be allowed to live in the same place 
with Nahoum Abbajee and Sirri — the former tele- 
graph-clerk at Berber, with whom I was to work. 
We were given the house of Ghattas, an old slave- 
dealer, to live in. It was one of the best houses left 
standing in Khartoum, and boasted an upper floor, 
which was taken possession of by Nahoum Abbajee 
as head of what I might call the gold syndicate, while 
Sirri and I shared the ground floor. In the East 
the West is reversed ; you climb to the garret with 
your rising fortunes, and descend with them, as they 
fall, to the lower floors. Instead of having Saier or 
Baggara guards to watch me, Awwad gave me some 
slaves from the Beit-el-Mal as guardians, and they 
had, in addition to watching me, to perform the house- . 
hold duties ; in fact, they were my servants. 

After the evening prayers, Awwad called together 
the employes of the arsenal and my guards, and ex- 
plained to them that I was no longer a Saier prisoner ; 
that my chains were left on only to prevent the Govern- 
ment people taking me ; that I was " beloved " of the 
Khaleefa, and was to be treated as his friend, and that 
if any one treated me differently, he would be sent to 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 



23* 



take my place in the Saier. Awwad then taking me 
aside under the pretence of giving me instructions from 
the Khaleefa, said, " I am your friend ; do not be afraid ; 
if you cannot find gold and silver, tell me of anything 
else you can do, and I will see that the work is given 
to you, so that you may not be sent back to the Saier." 
As Awwad was then a perfect stranger to me, I at 
first had suspicions in my mind as to the genuineness of 
his friendship ; but he was a Jaalin, and I trusted him. 

We were told to get to work at once with the 
extraction of the precious metals. As the engineer, I 
had to design and superintend the construction of the 
furnaces to be made by Hassan Fahraani (the potter), 
who also supplied the crucibles. Our first furnace 
crumbled to pieces after being started, and a stronger 
one had to be made. Then the crucibles gave out. 
We did all we could to coax gold and silver out of 
those stones, and obtained some extraordinary results. 
We added earth, common salt, saltpetre, oxide of lead 
— anything and everything to the split stones in the 
crucibles. Sometimes we found the crucible and its 
contents fused together. The only thing we actually 
found which gave an idea that we were working for 
metals was a small shiny black ball, very much re- 
sembling a black pearl, and this Hamadan at once 
took possession of and carried off to Abdullahi, telling 
him that it only required time for us to succeed. 
Hamadan, being our chief, was much interested in 
the work, and he was doubtless looking forward to 
the day when part of the contents of the crucibles 
would find its way to him. 



232 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



But our experiments were destined never to be 
finished. About April, 1896, rumours first, and then 
precise news, reached Omdurman that the Government 
troops were again advancing. Then came the startling 
news that Dongola had been taken, only to be followed 
by the news of the capture of Abou Hamad. The 
fulminate factory presided over by Hassan Zecki had 
run short of ingredients, and as the stock of chlorate 
of potash ordered from Egypt had not arrived, it was 
believed that now the troops held all the country 
between Dongola and Abou Hamad, it would have 
no chance of getting through. Abdalla Rouchdi, the 
chemist of the Beit-el-Mal, had, with Hassan Zecki, 
failed to produce chlorine, as had also others, there- 
fore we were ordered to experiment at once. 
Nahoum was sent over to the Beit-el-Mal to collect 
all appliances, chemicals, and anything else he chose 
to lay his hands upon. Our establishment was grow- 
ing, and Hamadan was delighted at having under his 
charge people who were to do so much for Mahdieh. 
But the chlorine required for the production of the 
chlorate of potash refused to appear. Our laboratory 
was a dangerous place to visit, for we had jar upon 
jar containing mixed acids, and explosions were the 
order of the day. Nahoum had a lively time, deaf as 
he was. Once, and once only, Hamadan made pre- 
tence of understanding our experiments ; he took a 
good inhalation from a vessel which had in it a 
mixture of various acids with permanganate of 
potash. He was almost suffocated, but he was much 
impressed, and told the Khaleefa what devoted 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 



233 



adherents he had when we would work in such a 
poison-laden atmosphere. 

There was good reason why I should do all in my 
power to keep Hamadan interested and hopeful of grand 
results. Onoor Issahad sent me word by a messenger 
from Berber that he was at that town with letters and 
money for me, but that he had been detained by the 
Emir ; he hoped, however, to be able to get away very 
soon and arrange my escape. Then the consignment of 
chlorate of potash put in its appearance — about twelve 
hundredweight, I was told — and Sirri getting hold of 
a small sample of it, we showed it to Hamadan to 
prove that we were just succeeding with our experi- 
ments. He was satisfied, as was also Abdullahi, and 
we were told to continue our work. 

However, the tales which were coming in every few 
days were causing no little anxiety to the Khaleefa. 
None of us believed that the troops were coming 
across the desert in " iron devils," and it was some 
time before we understood that a railway was being 
built. Indeed we could hardly believe it. What- 
ever the "iron devil " was, it behoved the Khaleefa to 
look well to his arms and ammunition. Sheikh ed 
Din was sent on a round of inspection of stores and 
arsenals,"* and discovered that a large quantity of the 

* A few errors have crept into the report submitted to the Earl of Kimberley in April, 1895, 
after the escape of Slatin. 

On page 4 it is stated that the church of the Austrian Mission in Khartoum was utilized as the 
repairing shops of the arsenal. The church was never put to such a purpose. The account I 
have given of the purpose to which it was put is the correct one. 

On page 7 it is stated " Neufeld started the first saltpetre refinery in Khartoum." This may 
or may not be correct, but it is very misleading. The refining of saltpetre for the Khaleefa was 
a big industry in Darfour and the environs of Omdurman and Khartoum long before I had any- 
thing to do with it. The account I have given as to how I came to be connected with this 
industry may be relied upon as being correct, while there are many living witnesses, irrespective 
of the stock of my saltpetre still existing, to prove that I deliberately prevented " the refining of 
saltpetre " so far as it lay in my power to do so. 

In the following paragraph to that quoted, it is stated that the powder-factory was at Halfeyeh. 



234 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



powder had caked with the absorption of moisture, 
that other large quantities were of very poor quality, 
and that the powder-stores in general were not as he 
thought they were. The Khaleefa threatened to cut 
a hand and foot off both Abd es Semmieh and Hassan 
Hosny, the directors of the factory, if they did not 
work the powder up again into a good explosive. 
Awwad, as the head of the Beit-el- Mai, came and 
asked if it was not possible to make some sort of 
machine for pulverizing the ingredients for the 
powder ; the work was then being done by hand. I 
tried to interest Nahoum Abbajee in the work, as it 
was about time we got clear of our alchemists' estab- 
lishment on some excuse or another, otherwise I fore- 
saw trouble if Sheikh ed Din should inquire too 
closely into our work. But Abbajee thought that he 
had had quite enough of me in connection with 
experiments and machinery, and decided to be out 
of the affair altogether ; he thought his life had been 
in enough jeopardy already. Sirri elected to remain. 

I invented a powder machine on the principle of 
the old German " dolly " toy. We spent a few weeks, 
assisted by Hamaida, the head of the carpenters, in 
making a model, which worked beautifully ; and when 
it was shown to the Khaleefa, he was so delighted 
that he ordered my chains to be removed. The 
mortars were put in hand at once, also the beam which 

It never was. It was first in Omdurman, and, after the explosion, was gradually removed to 
Tuti Island. The transfer was not complete when I left Khartoum for the Saier in November, 

1897. 

On page 10, when speaking of the coins in circulation, it is said, "This decrease in the 
intrinsic value of money is an interesting indication of the decline of dervish power and govern- 
ment." The inference to be drawn from my account of its depreciation is just the reverse, but is 
the correct inference to be drawn. 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 



2 35 



was to lift and let fall the pulverizers, and then it 
was discovered that the machine could not be made 
to my dimensions. I knew this when I designed it, 
but I had hoped that some one would have been sent 
south to try and find trees large enough to provide 
the beams, and so delay would be assured. Osta 
Abdallah and Khaleel Hassanein, jealous maybe of 
me, and fearing that their positions were in danger of 
being taken by myself, went to the Khaleefa, and told 
him that, in their opinion, I was only " fooling " with 
him. They also suggested that Awwad-el-Mardi was a 
friend of the Government, and was helping me on this 
account ; but Yacoub, who was present, supported me. 
In the course of the interview, the Khaleefa said he 
had heard that in my country women and children 
made cartridges with machines, and as I must know 
all about it, I was to make him such a machine while 
the powder-mill was being constructed. 

For ten years I had been so chained and weighted 
with iron that it was only with effort I was able to 
raise my feet from the ground in order to shuffle from 
place to place ; the bars of iron connected with the 
anklets had limited the stride or shuffle to about ten 
or twelve inches. When freed from all this, I ran 
and jumped about the whole day long like one pos- 
sessed ; but the sudden call upon muscles so long 
unused resulted in a swelling of the legs from hips to 
ankles, and this was accompanied with most excruci- 
ating pains. I had just got the drawings ready for 
the cartridge-machine when I was compelled to lie 
up. This gave Osta Abdallah and Hassanein another 



2;5 A PRISOXER OF THE KHAL EE FA 



chance to approach the Khaleefa, and again they 
suggested that I was " fooling-." 

Awwad was sent for. and in reply to the Khaleefa, 
said that he believed I was doing my best, and would 
certainly succeed ; that had he not believed in me him- 
self, he would never have recommended him to employ 
me on such important works. Yacoub again took my 
par:, and said that whoever did not assist me. or who- 
ever hindered me. would be considered an enemy of 
Mahdieh. Although, as lie admitted, he did no: under- 
stand the machines, yet in his opinion " there must be 
something in the head of the man who invented them, 
and he was better employed in the arsenal than idling 
his time in the Saier." Awwad also said that if Osta 
Abdallah and HasSanein had not and could not find 
the materials for the construction of the machines, he 
believed that I could make another one with such 
materials as they had. This decided the matter — 
both machines were to be proceeded with: but the 
Khaleefa agreed to my being put into chains to 
prevent my escaping, and on the thirteenth day of my 
freedom the chains were replaced. Being unable to 
move from my house, the joiners, with a lathe, their 
tools and material, were sent to me, as the Khaleefa 
wished the machine to be completed as rapidly as 
possible. Abdallah Sulieman, the chief of the cart- 
ridge-factory, was then employing upwards of fifteen 
hundred men. and the Khaleefa wished to release 
them for fighting purposes. 

My efforts to obtain either the original models or 
photographs of them not having so far been successful, 




POWDER-MACHINES. 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 



937 



I have had models of the machines made here. 
Those interested in mechanics will discover for them- 
selves the mechanical defects and unnecessary com- 
plications introduced into them. I was working 
under the supervision of fairly good mechanical 
engineers, so that defects might not be made too 
glaring. Some were detected and rectified, but the 
main defects were not seen, being beyond the powers 
of calculation of Abdallah ; and Hamaida, who could 
and did see them, was enjoying the pranks which were 
played. The various ideas I had picked up while 
associated with Gordons old corps were now standing 
me in good stead. When the model of the cartridge, 
machine was taken over to Abdullahi, instead of being 
pleased with it he was furious : Berber had been 
taken ! He said, " I want cartridges, not models ; " and 
gave orders that I should be taken from my house, 
kept at work all day in the arsenal, and locked up at 
night in the arsenal prison with the convicts employed 
there as labourers. 

To gain more time, I insisted upon a full-sized 
wooden model of the cartridge-machine being first 
made for the metal workers to work from. Yacoub 
had given orders that all the material and labour 
of the arsenal was to be put at my disposition. 
While the wooden model was being made, I occupied 
myself in selecting the metal required, and in doing 
this I laid hands upon everything Osta Abdallah 
required for the ordinary works in hand. I ap- 
propriated the paddle axle of one of the steamers, 
as I said I required this to be cut with eccentric 



238 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



discs, and did my best to smash the best lathe 
with it, to give me still more time ; but the lathe 
stood the strain, and four or five discs were actually 
cut in the axle. 

It would have taken them another year to cut the 
remainder at the rate the work was progressing, and 
probably four years to make the machine ; then 
when it was finished there would have been an 
accident, and some people would have been killed 
or maimed, for that paddle axle would have come 
tearing through the machine with the first revolution. 
I was taking a fiendish delight in destroying every 
good piece of metal I could lay my hands on under 
pretence of its being required for the machine ; the 
copper and brass which I appropriated interfered 
considerably with the production of the cartridges, 
and the skilled workmen whom I kept employed 
delayed for months the finishing touches to the new 
powder-factory on Tuti Island. But there could be no 
going back now. Abdallah was my sworn enemy ; but I 
knew that the more I destroyed under his own eyes, the 
less risk there was of his going to the Khaleefa again 
to induce him to believe that the whole of my work 
was, as he called it, " shoogal khabbass " — all lies, for 
Abdallah himself would get into trouble for not having 
discovered it before all the damage had been done. 

While still engaged on collecting material for the 
machine (for no sooner was one lot cut up when 
it was discovered that some mistake had been made 
in either length or thickness, so that another raid 
had to be made on the stores), the steamer Sofia 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 



2 39 



was brought up and beached opposite Mokran fort 
for repairs. Instead of being allowed to settle on a 
cradle running the whole length of her keel, she was 
supported only amidships, and her bow and stern tore 
away. All the boats were at this time in the charge 
of the Beit-el-Mal, and when Osta Abdallah con- 
demned the Sofia, and said it was impossible to repair 
her, Awwad-el-Mardi, fearing the Khaleefas dis- 
pleasure at such a time, asked me if it was not pos- 
sible to repair her. Taking with us a number of men 
discontented with Osta Abdallah, we examined the 
boat, and declared that she could be repaired. Awwad 
was pleased, and I was appointed superintendent of 
this work too. My superintendence consisted in 
hiding below and smoking surreptitiously. 

Sometime in August, 1897, Onoor returned to 
Omdurman, and sent messages to me through Umm 
es Shole. The import of them will be seen from the 
following letter, which I was able to write and smuggle 
over to him ; the letter was to be delivered to the 
first officer he came across : — 

" In accordance with my arrangement with the bearer Onoor, I 
succeeded in getting liberated from the Saier, and moved over to 
Khartoum, where I have spent two years in the arsenal under surveil- 
lance. Onoor has been unable to meet me personally to consult 
over plans for escape, which offers little difficulty provided I had 
funds. In May, 1896, Onoor sent me, through his agent, your letter, 
and gave me to understand that the money mentioned in this letter 
was in his possession, and that he was awaiting an opportunity to 
bring it to Khartoum. Now (July-August, 1897) he has come to 
Omdurman only to find me in a difficult position, owing to the 
progress of the war. He tells me he was ordered to Suakin, where 
he was put in prison, and the money he had for me taken from him, 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



as he had no reply from me to the letter sent, or any evidence to 
show that the letter had been sent. He has borrowed some money 
here, for which I have gone bail for fifty pounds, and Onoor promises 
to be back in three months' time with news from you and the money 
required for my support and escape. The course of the war will 
soon deliver us alive or dead from the hands of this savage rabble. 

" The greater part of the arsenal has been moved over to the Beit-el- 
Mal at Omdurman owing to the war, and the remaining material will 
follow very shortly, and I will go over with it, when I may have an 
opportunity of meeting Onoor if nothing occurs to disturb the ex- 
tremely good relations existing between myself and my present 
masters. Please give Onoor (here follows a list of medicines) ; 
practising medicine facilitates my communication with the outer 
world. I hope Onoor will find with you a letter from my family ; I 
am in good health, as is also my daughter Bakhita, and her mother 
Umm es Shole. We send you greetings." 

News was coming each day of the most alarming 
description for the Khaleefa ; tales of big gunboats 
coming to reconnoitre Khartoum, and the "iron 
devil " (the railway) creeping forward, decided him on 
collecting everything under his eyes. All stores were 
hurried over to Omdurman ; a hundred and fifty to 
two hundred men were sent over to destroy the 
mission house, mosque, and other buildings in Khar- 
toum, as the Khaleefa was determined to leave no 
place of shelter for any troops who succeeded in land- 
ing there. I was looked upon with the greatest 
suspicion, as there was no concealing, try as I might, 
my anxiety to glean every bit of news possible about 
the expedition, and I was also in a fever of excite- 
ment expecting the return of Onoor. Each day was 
bristling with opportunities for escape, provided there 
was a man with a camel ready for me on the opposite 



RUMOURS OF RELIEF 



241 



shore. With the dozens of boats and hundreds of 
men employed in transferring the arsenal to the other 
side of the river, a successful escape was assured ; but 
Onoor never came. Towards the end of November, 
1397, I was taken over with the last of the arsenal 
material to Omdurman, and put into the Saier prison, 
only until, as I was told, a house could be got ready 
for me in the Beit-el-Mal, where we were to complete 
the powder- and cartridge-machines. 



CHAPTER XX 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 

When I returned to the Saier in November, 1897, 
it was as a visitor — a distinguished one at that. I was 
told that I was only to remain there until my quarters 
in the Beit-el-Mal were ready for occupation, when I 
was to leave the prison and continue the construction 
of the powder- and cartridge-machines, to the comple- 
tion of which the Khaleefa and Yacoub were looking 
forward with no little interest and anxiety. But 
once inside the gates of the Saier, Osta Abdallah and 
Khaleel Hassanein determined to keep me there, and 
succeeded in doing so. When Awwad-el-Mardi again 
interested himself on my behalf, these worthies suc- 
ceeded in persuading Yacoub that Awwad's interest in 
me was sure evidence of his sympathies with the 
Government, and their schemes ended by Awwad also 
being sent into the prison with threats of what would 
happen to him if he attempted to hold any intercourse 
with me. 

It was possibly a week after entering the prison that 
Umm es Shole came in to say that she had seen and 
spoken to Onoor Issa, who had not left Omdurman — s 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 243 



the same Onoor whose return I had looked for so 
anxiously during the time of the transfer of the arsenal 
from Khartoum, when each day bristled with opportu- 
nities for successful flight ! Fearing that he might play 
me false, and hand the notes I had given him to the 
Khaleefa as an earnest of his loyalty to him, I sent off 
Umm es Shole, and told her to say that I had a few 
notes to add to the letters which I had given him. 
Onoor at once suspected my reasons for sending for 
them, and replied that he was not pleased with my want 
of confidence in him, that he had a permit to proceed 
to Suakin for trade, but, having fallen under suspicion, 
he had so far been prevented from leaving, though he 
hoped to be able to leave any day. Upon this I 
again trusted him, and added the following to my 
notes, sending them out to him as soon as it was 
written : — 

" News from here (the Saier) ; Slatin knows Omdurman prison. 
From the Beit-el-Mal to Morrada along the river are six semicircular 
forts with flanks ; each fort has three guns, but the flanks are loop- 
holed for musketry only. The parapets are of Nile mud, and appear 
to be three metres thick. Most of the forts are situated close under 
the high wall. There is a similar fort at the north end of Tuti Island, 
two more at Halfeyeh, and the same number at Hugra, north of 
Omdurman. Two batteries near Mukran sweep the White Nile and 
the arm which skirts Tuti Island, and I have just heard that some 
one has offered to lay torpedoes in the Nile to blow up the steamers. 
Slatin knows more about the army than I do ; Wad Bessir has come 
in from Ghizera with about two thousand men. Osman Digna, with 
a force I have not learned the strength of, is at Halfeyeh. Onoor 
will tell you all about these troops. Ahmed Fedeel is at Sabalooka 
(Shabluka), and his strength is better known to you than me. The 
whole population left here is in the greatest dread of this savage 
rabble and their rulers, and pray God to deliver them out of their 



244 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



hands, and that you may save them from the fate of the Jaalin. I 
pray you to keep this letter an absolute secret. There are traitors 
among your spies " (this remark was confirmed a few weeks later) ; 
"if the least inkling of my communications with you reach the 
Khaleefa's ears, it will be all over with me. Answer me in German, 
as no one else here understands the language. It is a mistake to 
trust any Arab — civilized or uncivilized. Onoor is the only one who 
has brought me any news. He is the best man to go between us. 
In expectation of an early reply from you, I subscribe myself yours 
devotedly, and pray God he may enable me to join you soon. I 
have been moved from Khartoum to the Omdurman prison only 
until my house is ready in the Beit-el-Mal. 

The Khaleefa has received news that steamers are coming to 
reconnoitre Khartoum." 

It was not until the end of December that Onoor 
succeeded in obtaining permission to leave Omdurman ; 
and then hurrying to Suakin, he handed in my notes 
to the commandant there, returning six months later 
with his thanks for the information given and money 
to keep me going. It is passing strange that my 
trouble in collecting information about the forts, 
writing to the advancing army, and giving what 
details I could, should have given those on the way to 
Omdurman the impression that it was "Neufeld's forts " 
which were being knocked to pieces. Even my good 
friend — that King of War Correspondents — Mr. 
Bennet Burleigh, was good enough to tell me that he 
believed I had designed and constructed them. They 
were all the work, from beginning to end, of Youssef 
Mansour. 

At the time I am speaking of, the prison was filled 
with suspected sympathizers with the Government ; 
the presence of Ibrahim Pasha Fauzi and Awwad-el- 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 245 



Mardi has already been alluded to. Hogal, who 
should have accompanied me on the expedition to 
Kordofan, was also a prisoner ; but it was three months 
before I was able to steal an interview with him — about 
the time of the anniversary of my capture — and then 
I learned, at almost the hour of my release, the real 
history of my capture. Our circle of " Government 
people" was added to daily ; one of the most interest- 
ing additions being a party of sixteen or seventeen 
spies, amongst whom was Worrak from Dongola, 
Abdalla Mahassi from Derawi, Ajjail from Kassala, 
and others from Suakin. They had been betrayed by 
other spies ; I have forgotten the names of the traitors, 
but it is of little moment now, as doubtless the betrayed 
settled up their accounts on the taking of Omdurman. 
The betrayer or betrayers were Dongolawi — perhaps 
the only coterie of thieves on earth who have no 
honour among themselves. 

Whatever may have been the excitement and anxiety 
in other parts of the world concerning the Sirdar's 
advance, we had our share of both in Omdurman. 
Strange tales had reached us of offers of assistance sent 
to the Khaleefa to resist the advance of the troops. 
Shortly before I left Khartoum, a field-gun had arrived 
from the south as a present for the Khaleefa ; it 
was accompanied by a limited supply of ammunition — 
brass cartridges carrying a shell in the same way as 
the rifle carries its bullet. One of the cartridges was 
sent to the Khartoum arsenal, to see if others could be 
made like it. Various tales were told concerning its 
origin ; but as the gun must have been taken at the 



246 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



capture of Omdurman, its real history has no doubt 
been traced. 

It was only when I met in prison Ibrahim Wad 
Hamza of Berber, and Hamed Wad-el-Malek, that I 
learned from them what had transpired when the 
King of Abyssinia sent an envoy to the Khaleefa ask- 
ing his assistance against the Italians. The envoy had 
been brought to the Khartoum arsenal to inspect it, 
but I was not allowed to speak to him. An arrange- 
ment had been come to by which the Abyssinians were 
to open up trade routes from Gallabat, and send in so 
much coffee and other articles of food monthly, in 
return for the promised assistance of the Khaleefa in 
attacking the Italians ; but the contributions or tribute 
was paid for a few months only, as another envoy 
came with offers of assistance against the advancing 
armies. He was the bearer of a flag which he asked 
the Khaleefa to fly, as the troops might not fire at 
it ; the conferences, like all conferences between the 
Khaleefa and strangers, were held privately, but at 
the end of the last conference, the Khaleefa gave his 
reply in the presence of the Emirs and others. Handing 
back the flag, he said, " My mission is a holy and 
religious one ; I trust to God for help and success ; I do 
not want the help of Christians. If ever I required the 
help of man, the Mohammedan boy Abbas is nearer 
and better to me," and with this he waved the envoy 
and his companions off. The only construction we 
could place on the concluding sentence, was that the 
Khaleefa wished every one to understand that, sooner 
than accept the help of a Christian power, he would 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 247 

surrender to the Khedive, and this meant never, for he 
was looking forward to the day when he would erect 
his scaffolds in the Cairo citadel, and haul up the 
Khedive and " Burrin " (Lord Cromer) as his first 
victims. To the Soudanese, Lord Cromer, or 
" Burrin," as they mispronounced Baring, held the 
same relation to the Khedive as Yacoub did to the 
Khaleefa. 

From the day Mahmoud started until the arrival of 
the victorious army in Omdurman, I was pestered with 
questions day and night ; the Mahdists wished to 
know whether the advancing troops belonged to the 
sheikh who sent the troops for Gordon in 1884 ; those 
against Mahdieh wished to know if they belonged to 
the other sheikh. From the Arabic papers which 
found their way to Omdurman, the Soudanese had 
learned that there were two tribes in England, each 
led by powerful sheikhs; one, the sheikh of 1884, 
and the other the sheikh who had said that when he 
started there would be no coming back until he had 
" broken up " (smashed) Mahdieh. To the Mahdists, it 
was the troops who " ran away " who were coming 
again ; to the " Government " people it was immaterial 
which sheikh was in power ; British troops were 
advancing, and that was enough. At night our circle 
would sift and discuss all the tales we had heard 
during the day, and although we were filled with hope, 
anxiety and fear got the better of us on most occasions. 

When Mahmoud was sent off, his instructions were 
to wait at Metemmeh, and do all in his power to harass 
the troops as they crossed the river ; if strong enough 



248 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

to attack them, he was to do so, but if they were 
stronger, he was to retire gradually to Kerreri, where 
an old prophecy had foretold that the great battle was 
to take place. Mahmoud disobeyed these instructions, 
and crossed to the east bank, upon which the Khaleefa 
sent him orders not to remain in a zareeba or trenches, 
but to attack the infidels in the open. Hardly had the 
excitement caused by Mahmoud's defiance of the 
Khaleefa's orders died down, when the news came that 
he had attacked and annihilated the English army. 
But other news than this followed on its heels ; we 
learned the truth from a band of about thirty-eight 
blacks wearing the Egyptian uniform. They were 
dervishes taken at Dongola and Abou Hamad, and 
drafted into the army. At the Atbara they deserted to 
the dervishes, but suspected of being spies, they were 
sent to the Saier. The whole truth came out when 
Osman Digna came back to Omdurman to report to 
the Khaleefa. 

"What news have you brought me, and how fare 
the faithful ? " inquired Abdullahi. <( Master/' replied 
Osman, " I led them to Paradise." Now, Osman 
had been doing this at every battle for years, and 
the Khaleefa's patience was exhausted; he wanted 
victories, and not pilgrimages of his best troops to the 
next world. " Then why did you not go with them ? " 
retorted Abdullahi. " God," replied Osman, " had not 
ordained it so ; He must have more work for me to 
do; when that work is finished, He will call me." It 
was well known to the Khaleefa, and every one else in 
the Soudan, that Osman had an excellent eye for a 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 249 

field of battle, and knew an hour before any one else 
did, when to make a bolt for it on a losing day. 
Osman's appearance was quite sufficient to let people 
understand that all the tales of victory on the side 
of the dervishes were false, and it was useless for the 
Khaleefa to try any longer to conceal the truth, but 
some explanation had to be given for the terrible 
rout of his army. It was all the doing of an outraged 
Deity. Mahmoud had disobeyed the orders trans- 
mitted through Abdullahi by the Prophet, and this 
was the result ! As other stragglers came in, extra- 
ordinary tales were told of enormous steamers with 
enormous guns which fired " devils" and " lightning'* ; 
this description probably referred to the rockets, which, 
I gathered, had ricochetted all over Mahmouds camp, 
playing terrible havoc. 

On the fall of Dongola, a Mograbin (from Tunis, or 
Algiers), named Nowraani, had offered his services to 
Yacoub, as a maker of torpedoes, and with these he 
said he could blow up every boat on the Nile. His 
offer at the time was refused, as the Khaleefa said 
that it was his intention to capture all these boats for 
himself; he did not wish them to be destroyed. But the 
tales which came in about them after the Atbara fight, 
showed that something must be done to secure them. 
Abdallah and Hassanein undertook to make a " boom" 
of chains across the Sabalooka (Shabluka) pass, and 
for this purpose almost every scrap of chain in Omdur- 
man was collected. Their plan, as described to me, was 
as follows : the chains were to be laid across the 
stream, their ends made fast to posts on the opposite 



250 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



banks of the Nile. To prevent them from sinking to 
the bed of the stream, a series of large wooden buoys 
had been made, and these were to be fixed at intervals 
along the boom. It had been calculated that the buoys 
would, with the weight of the chains, be sunk just 
below the surface of the water, and also keep the 
chains in a series of loops ; these loops were intended 
to entangle the paddles and propellers of the gunboats, 
and, while so entangled, Mansour's picked men were 
to shoot every one on board, and then, releasing the 
boats, bring them on to Omdurman. That was the 
arrangement. 

Employed in the arsenal at the time was a man 
named Mohammad Burrai — a Government sympa- 
thizer, and a bitter enemy of Mansour and the others ; 
he was entrusted with the attaching of the buoys 
at the fixed points in the boom. A few days after 
the boom was sent down the river, and, while I 
was " practising " the healing art at the gates of the 
prison, I received an interesting patient; it was Burrai, 
his head so wrapped up in cloths as to make him 
unrecognizable. He told me first of the arrangements 
made for the boom, and how he had succeeded in 
destroying it. The chains had been laid over the 
sterns of boats anchored in the Nile from bank to 
bank, and Burrai had fixed the buoys to them, but 
instead of making the buoys fast at these points, he 
merely slipped the rings round the boom so that the 
buoys could run from one end to the other. The word 
was given to slip the boom off the boats. The buoys 
with the force of the current were carried to the centre 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 251 

of the boom, and, with the resistance offered by them 
to the stream, the cables snapped and were lost. 
Burrais object in coming to me will be divined ; 
having been employed on the construction of the 
boom, he might, when the English arrived, be shot as 
a Mahdist, and he wished to tell me, as a " Government 
man," what he had done, so that I could speak up for 
him. This I promised to do. 

There were no more chains left with which to make 
another boom, but those terrible boats must be stopped 
from coming to Omdurman, and Nowraani was sent 
for to explain his project again. He proposed to take 
two large tubular boilers, then lying at Khartoum, 
cut them in two, fill them with powder, seal up the 
open ends, and fire them by electricity as the boats 
passed over them. Sirri, the former telegraph-clerk 
at Berber, was asked to design the electrical apparatus, 
but he pleaded ignorance of such things. I was next 
sent to, to give my opinion as to the feasibility of 
Nowraani's plan. It was explained to me that each 
half of the boilers would contain thirty cantars (a ton 
and a half) of gunpowder ; then it was mines, and not 
torpedoes, the man wished to make ; however, the 
name " torpedo " was always used. I replied that I 
had heard, as Nowraani said, of torpedoes being used 
in the sea for the destruction of great ships, but had 
never heard of them being used in rivers, and I 
doubted his ability to make them. The Khaleefa was 
not satisfied with my answer, and sent word that he 
believed I could assist in the making of them, but 
would not. To this, again, I said I should be only too 



252 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

pleased to help Nowraani in his work, but what he 
proposed to do was very dangerous and risky. I said 
I felt sure that the only result would be an explosion 
while the torpedoes were being made, and that, while 
I did not mind being killed myself, I would not like 
to meet Allah responsible for the lives of others. 
Perhaps I made a mistake in putting forward religious 
scruples, for the Khaleefa never believed in my con- 
version ; he took it for granted that I refused to help, 
and told the Saier to load me with an extra chain 
and bar. 

Nowraani insisted that his plans were feasible, and 
a small experimental " torpedo" was ordered to be 
made ; Mansour, Hassanein, and Abdallah super- 
intended the work, which was carried out in almost 
absolute secrecy. When finished, the mine was taken 
over to the Blue Nile, made fast under a boat, and 
exploded. The result was most satisfactory — the boat 
being blown to matchwood, and a large column of mud 
and water thrown into the air, which was more 
impressive, evidently, than the destruction of the 
boat. 

The " torpedoes " were ordered immediately, and 
men were kept working night and day for their com- 
pletion ; the boilers were cut in two, plates fitted to 
the open ends, w T ires and " strings," as it was described 
to me, fitted to mechanism in the interior, and in 
maybe a fortnights time I learned that four big and 
one small torpedo were fastened to gyassas ready to 
be lowered into the stream, while others were being 
made. Again I received a visit from Burrai ; he had 




NEUFKLD DOUBLY FETTERED. 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 253 



to assist in the laying of the mines, and wanted to know 
from me how they might be rendered useless. From 
his description of the wires and lines running in pairs, 
I came to the conclusion that electricity was to be the 
medium for their explosion, especially as Burrai's 
instructions were to take charge of these lines, pay 
them out as the torpedoes sank, and make the free 
ends of the line fast to posts, which had been fixed 
on the land just south of Khor Shamba. I told him 
that if either wire or string of the pairs of lines was 
broken, the torpedoes could not be fired, and suggested 
his giving a hard tug to one of the lines as soon as the 
" barrel " as he called the mines, was lowered to the 
bed of the stream. 

What happened we know ; how it happened we 
never shall. Burrai was seen on the Ismailia, which 
towed down the stone-laden gyassas with the tor- 
pedoes ; the gyassas were to have a hole knocked in 
them, and the boat and torpedoes allowed to sink 
gradually. One torpedo had been lowered, and an 
explosion immediately followed. The boats with 
Nowraani and between thirty and forty men were 
blown to atoms ; the Ismailia was blown in two — 
the stern floating a few yards down stream and sink- 
ing. Burrai was picked out of the water with the 
whole of the flesh of the calf of his left leg blown clear 
away, and also the flesh from his ribs on the left side. 
He lingered for seven days, asking repeatedly for me ; 
but all that I was allowed to do was to send him 
carbolic acid for his wounds — I was not allowed to go 
and see him. To all inquiries as to how the accident 



254 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

happened he could, or would, only say that all he did 
was to pull in the slack of the lines, to prevent their 
becoming entangled. 

Sorry as I am for poor Burrai's death, I cannot con- 
sider that I am in any way to blame for it ; I can only 
think that some system of fuse, or detonator, had been 
fixed to the " torpedoes," and that the very action which 
I had suggested to render them useless had exploded 
them. About the time that the mines exploded, Onoor 
returned, or, at least, I received the news of his return, 
by receiving the letter and money he had brought 
from Suakin. Every one with leanings towards the 
Government was now coming to me in prison under 
one pretext or another, to give me information as to all 
that was going on ; it was to their interest to do so, 
as to the end I was looked upon as an official. Owing 
to this, I was able to send out to Onoor slips of paper 
giving as nearly correct details as possible of the 
number of various arms possessed by the dervishes, the 
stock of ammunition, and the Khaleefa's plans as far 
as they were known. In one of my notes I informed 
the army of the explosion of the " torpedoes," and the 
existence of two other mines ready to be sent off, with 
details concerning the forts. I asked Onoor to get 
away with these as quickly as possible, and he promised 
to do so. I do not know who he handed these notes 
to, or whether he handed them over himself ; he 
replies to my inquiries by writing me from Omdurman 
saying that he was arrested on the Nile by Osman 
Digna, but whether coming or going from the army it 
is impossible to say. My own opinion is that Onoor, 



■ a 



PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS 255 



not knowing how the day would go, remained in 
Omdurman the whole time. If the English won, his 
life was safe as a well-known spy ; if the dervishes 
won, he was among his own people, and could take 
credit for having contributed towards the victory. He 
was not the only one in the Soudan who debated 
chances and probabilities as did Hassib Gabou, and 
Hogal when Gabou talked him over on April 1, 1887. 

No sooner had my " latest intelligence " been sent 
off by Onoor, than an arsenal carpenter, Mohammad 
Ragheb, came to me on the subject of the remaining 
torpedoes. He had been ordered to assist in the laying 
of them, and was particularly anxious to learn from 
me how he might render them useless, and no less 
anxious that I should make a mental note of the fact 
so that I could say a "good word" for him if ever he 
was accused of trying to impede the advance of the 
" Government." Associated with him was a no par- 
ticular friend of mine — Ali Baati, and others ; but there 
was no mistaking their earnest desire and real anxiety 
to circumvent all the schemes of Mansour, Hassanein, 
and Abdallah in favour of the Government troops. 

Ragheb could give me no more information as to 
the firing medium of the mines than could Burrai ; all 
he could tell me was that the " barrels " had the wires 
wrapped two or three times round them to prevent 
their being pulled or dragged in removal. I suggested 
first that he should chip away any cement which he 
thought filled any hole or crevice ; this would allow of 
the water penetrating. Next I suggested that he 
should, as the boats carrying the mines went down 



256 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

the river, try and " snip " any or all of the wires 
running round the "barrel," but cutting the wires in 
different places, so that the trick would not be dis- 
covered. Ragheb must have succeeded, for neither of 
the mines exploded, although Mansour had appointed 
people to fire them as the gunboats passed. 

It is impossible for me, away from the spot where 
association would bring to memory the incidents of 
those stirring times, to remember the names of all who 
came to me asking what they might do to evidence, 
before the arrival of the troops, their loyalty to the 
Government, and it must not be forgotten that they 
were running risks in fighting Mahdieh. It is but right 
that I should record the one or two striking examples 
which occur to me, especially in the face of my oft- 
expressed opinion that there are one or two released 
captives, who should not even be allowed the formality 
of a drum-head court-martial. 



CHAPTER XXI 



NEARING THE END 

Events were now following each other in rapid 
succession. In the universal excitement prevailing, 
sleep was almost unknown, drums were beaten and 
ombeyehs blown continuously day and night, days 
and dates were lost count of; even Friday, that one 
day in the week in Mahdieh, was lost sight of by 
most, and the prayers were left unsaid. 

Councils of war were the order of the day — and 
night ; and what tales we heard ! The Emir Abd-el- 
Baagi had been entrusted by the Khaleefa and 
Yacoub with keeping in touch with the advancing 
armies, and sending to Omdurman information of 
every movement. Never was a general better served 
with " intelligence " than was Abdullahi by Abd-el- 
Baagi ; his messengers were arriving every few hours 
in the early days, and hourly towards the end. It 
was with no little astonishment that we heard Saba- 
looka was to be abandoned. The boom of chains 
which was to entangle the paddles of the gunboats 
had snapped, therefore it was the will of Allah that 
the boats were to come on. Then the mines ex- 
ploded. Again it was Allah, who in this showed that 



258 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



he would not have His designs interfered with. The 
real truth of the matter was, that the troops at 
Sabalooka, hearing that the gunboats had guns which 
could send one of the "devils" (shells) half a day's 
journey, and over hills too, took upon themselves to 
retire out of range. 

There was an old prophecy to the effect that the 
great fight would take place on the plains of Kerreri. 
Here the infidels were to be exterminated, and all 
the waverers on the side of the faithful were to 
be killed, the remnant collecting afterwards and then 
starting off, a purified army, on the conquest of the 
whole world. Again, it was decided that the faithful 
were to collect in Omdurman, and allow the infidels 
to come on. While attacks were being made against 
them on the western flank and rear, a great sortie was 
to be made from the town, when the infidels, pressed 
back to Kerreri plains, would be caught between three 
fires, and exterminated. The gunboats, with their 
" devils," would be afraid to shoot, as they would kill 
their own people. But no sooner had this been 
decided upon when objections were raised. Those 
gunboats could anchor half a day's journey off, knock 
Omdurman to pieces, and bury the faithful under 
the ruins. 

Again the prophecy was alluded to, and a move out 
to meet the armies finally decided upon. Every man 
was to be taken out of Omdurman, so that, if the 
infidels should succeed in reaching the town, they would 
find only women and children, and instead of their 
being the besiegers, they would become the besieged. 



NEARING THE END 



259 



Omdurman was overrun by Abdullahi's spies, who, 
professing to be friendly towards the " Government,'* 
tried to wheedle out of known friends of the Govern- 
ment expressions of opinion as to the chances of 
success to the Mahdists' arms, and at the same time to 
ascertain the general feeling of the populace. Their 
favourite hunting-ground was of course the Saier, 
where the more influential people were incarcerated. 
From the persistence with which these spies pressed 
their inquiries as to the chances of success which 
might attend large bodies deserting to the Ingleezee 
under cover of darkness — their anxiety to learn how 
they might approach the camp without being fired 
upon before they had been given an opportunity of 
evidencing their peaceable intentions — we came to the 
conclusion that Abdullahi had been advised to make 
a night attack. Few knew better than we did what 
might be the result of such a tactic. At close quarters 
the dervish horde was more than a match for the best- 
drilled army in Europe. Swift and silent in their 
movements, covering the ground at four or five times 
the speed of trained troops, every man, when the 
moment of attack came, accustomed to fight inde- 
pendently of orders, lithe and supple, nimble as cats 
and as bloodthirsty as starving man-eating tigers, 
utterly regardless of their own lives, and capable of 
continuing stabbing and jabbing with spear and sword 
while carrying half a dozen wounds, any one of which 
would have put a European hors de combat — such were 
the 75,000 to 80,000 warriors which the Khaleefa had 
ready to attack the Sirdars little army. Artillery, 



26o A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



rifles, and bayonets would have been but of little avail 
against a horde like this rushing a camp by night. 

We had heard from the prisoner deserters how, at 
the Atbara, the armies had advanced by night and de- 
livered their attack at dawn, first shelling the zareeba 
with their " devils," which "came from such a great 
distance." With Fauzi, Hamza the Jaalin, and others, 
I came to the conclusion that the same tactics would 
be employed for the attack at Kerreri ; therefore, to 
the spies we swore that the English never did things 
twice in the same way ; that they would on this 
occasion march during the day and attack at night, 
since the Sirdar would be afraid to let his soldiers see 
the Khaleefa's great army, as they would all run away 
if they did. Our advice was that the faithful should 
remain in their camp, and await the attack. It would 
have been very awkward for me had the Sirdar 
planned a night attack, for he would have found the 
dervishes on the qui vive awaiting him, and then I 
might have been blamed for the advice I had given. 
However, I believed that a night attack would be the 
very last thing he would resort to, and any tale from 
our side was good enough, provided doubts were 
raised in the minds of the Khaleefa and his advisers 
as to the chances of success which would attend his 
attacking by night. 

The population at this period may be said to have 
divided itself into three camps ; the one praying — and 
sincerely, for the victory to Mahdieh ; the second 
praying openly to the same end, but breathing prayers 
to Heaven for just the reverse ; the third camp — and 



NEARING THE END 



261 



this the bigger of the three, consisting of those wait- 
ing to see which side would probably win in order to 
throw in its lot with it. Dozens of people, who really 
were friends of the Government, came to me in prison 
asking advice as to what they might do before the 
troops actually arrived to evidence their loyalty, and it 
must not be forgotten that they were risking death at 
the hour of deliverance. To most I was still the 
" brother of Stephenson el Ingleezee," and there were 
" brothers " of mine coming up with the Government 
troops. 

I was able, through these people, to collect the 
information I was sending off daily by spies. Abdallah- 
el-Mahassi, who had received some message from 
Major Fitton, asking about me, and also asking 
for all information procurable concerning the arms 
and ammunition possessed by the dervishes, sent to 
me the spy Worrak, who had been released from 
prison, for any information I could give. Worrak, 
doubtless looking forward to a reward, decided upon 
delivering my messages himself. He was to be accom- 
panied by two others ; so, besides giving him notes 
with the numbers of rifles, etc., issued to the troops, 
and a last warning about the mines near Halfeyeh, I 
. gave the information verbally to the three, so that, in 
the event of it being found necessary to destroy the 
papers, the verbal messages would get through. 
Worrak and his companions left, but were inter- 
cepted by Abd-el-Baagis scouts. Inflating their 
water-skins, they took to the river under a shower 
of bullets. Worrak must have been killed or drowned, 



262 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



as he was not seen again ; but the two others reached 
the British lines, delivered the messages, and said 
that they would be confirmed by Worrak, who they 
then thought must have been carried by the current 
to the east bank of the Nile. These were the last 
messengers I actually sent off. 

One of the Saier gaolers had worked himself into 
a state of frenzied excitement in describing, for the 
edification of the prisoners — and mine in particular, 
the coming destruction of the infidels. He gloated 
over the time when the principal officers — their eyes 
gouged out to prevent their looking upon the benign 
face of his master, would be brought into the Saier, 
and there baited for the amusement of the populace. 
How little the Sirdar thought, on that September 
evening, that one of the gaolers grovelling at his 
feet had, but a few days previously, looked forward 
to the time when he, blinded and shackled, would 
be lashed round the place, and, with the rest of my 
" brothers," spend the nights in the "Umm Hagar." 
This gaoler, in his mad enthusiasm, rushed at me, 
and nearly succeeded in gouging out my left eye. 
There was a struggle, and getting up almost breath- 
less, and certainly driven to desperation, I turned 
stupidly round, and prophesied, for his edification this * 
time, that the destruction he had predicted for my 
" brothers " was the destruction which was to fall upon 
Mahdieh. 

It was fortunate for me that, for a few days previous, 
Idris es Saier had been sending for me, under one 
pretext and another, and asking what action he should 



SHEREEF, THE "FALSE FOURTH KHALEEFA." 



NEARING THE END 



263 



take in case the English won the battle. I promised 
that if he treated me well, I would say " good words " 
for him ; but perhaps Fauzi's tale made the greatest 
impression upon him. Fauzi related that when the 
English took Egypt there was one gaoler at Alex- 
andria and another at Cairo. The gaoler at Cairo 
treated his prisoners well, and so the English pro- 
moted him ; the gaoler at Alexandria killed his 
prisoners, and ran away to another country across the 
seas, but the English brought him back, and hanged 
him in his old prison. Knowing that the troops were 
close, Idris took me under his especial care, for he 
knew I had sent messages to my "brothers" telling 
them I was alive, and he feared that if they came and 
found me dead, they would hang him on the same 
scaffold with my corpse. Although he warned the 
gaolers and spies to say that I was mad, and did not 
know what I had been saying, my little speech by some 
means got to Yacoub's ears. I was carefully watched, 
and no one from outside was allowed to speak to me. 
I should have been taken out of prison to see the 
great fight, but I believe that I was the only Christian 
not called out to the field of battle. I had asked Idris 
not to remove my chains if I was sent for. I had no 
wish to be found alive or dead on the field as a prac- 
tically free man, and, dressed as a dervish, any attempt 
on my part to escape to the British lines during the 
fight could only end in my being shot down. 

The Khaleefa had been sitting for eight days in the 
mosque in communion with the Prophet and the 
Mahdi, and it was either on the Tuesday night or 



264 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Wednesday morning immediately preceding the battle 
that the decision to move out of town was arrived at. 
On the Wednesday afternoon a grand parade of all 
the troops was held on the new parade ground, and, 
while it was being held, alarming news was brought 
by Abd-el-Baagi's messengers. Instead of returning 
to the town as intended, the Khaleefa set off with the 
whole army in a north-westerly direction. It was this 
hurried movement which accounted for the greater 
part of the arms and ammunition he required being 
left in the Beit-el-Amana, for Abdullahi had intended 
distributing the remainder of the rifles only at the last 
moment, when his troops would have to use them 
against the infidels in self-defence ; he could trust 
none but his Baggara and Taaishi. Sheikh ed Din, 
with Yunis, Osman Digna, Khaleefa Shereef, and Ali 
Wad Helu, moved off first in command of the attacking 
army of 35,000 rifles and horsemen. Yacoub followed 
in command of a similar number of spear and swords- 
men ; in all, the army assembled must have numbered 
between 75,000 and 80,000 men. As every male had 
been taken from Omdurman, the Khaleefa issued 
a hundred rifles to the gaolers with which to shoot 
down the prisoners in case of trouble. 

That night the rain came down in torrents, and 
the following day the army arose uncomfortable, and 
maybe a little dispirited, but Abdullahi restored their 
good spirits by the relation of a vision. During 
the night the Prophet and the Mahdi had come to 
him, and let him see beforehand the result of the 
battle ; the souls of the faithful killed were all rising 



NEARING THE END 



265 



to Paradise, while the legions of hell were seen tearing 
into shreds the spirits of the infidels. While this 
tale was going its rounds, the gunboats were creeping 
up, and a further move to the north was ordered, 
for it had been reported that the English were landing 
the big guns on Tuti Island, to shell the camp. 

We, too, in prison heard that the gunboats were 
approaching, and then we heard the distant boom, 
boom of the guns gradually nearing and growing louder. 
Before we had time to speculate as to whether the 
great fight had commenced or not, a boy whom I 
had stationed on the roof of a gaoler's house, came 
running down to say that the " devils" were passing 
Halfeyeh. At the same moment we were smothered 
in dust and stones ; a shell had struck the top of the 
prison wall, ricochetted to the opposite wall, and fallen 
without exploding in the prison of the women. All 
we prisoners hurried off and squatted at the base of 
the north wall, believing this to be the safest place. 
The air was now filled with what to us chained 
wretches appeared to be the yells and screeches of 
legions of the damned let loose. We shuddered and 
looked helplessly from one to the other. Then I 
noticed that the shells were all flying high over us. 
Getting to my feet, I rushed — as far as my shackles 
allowed — stumbling to the middle of the open space, 
tried to dance and jump, called on all to come and 
join me. I shouted that my " brothers " had got my 
messages ; that only one place in Omdurman would 
be left — the Saier ; my brothers would spare all their 
lives for me. Yes, I had gone mad ; reason had left 



266 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



me, and I was raving, laughing, crying, singing, kissing 
my hands in welcome to those terrible messengers of 
death screeching and yelling overhead ; throwing open 
my arms, and leaping up to embrace the shell which 
a second later was to gather in death seventy-two then 
praying in the mosque.* 

I was only saved from death at the hands of the 
infuriated Baggara prisoners by Idris es Saier locking 
them all up in the Umm Hagar, and leaving myself, 
Fauzi, the Jaalin, and other Government sympathizers 
in the open. Then the tales of the fight came to us ; 
two of the gunboats had been sunk, and the remainder 
had run away again ! Fauzi and I sat there distracted, 
heartbroken. The attack on Khartoum, in 1885, had 
been enacted over again. I sat in a daze ; the reaction 
from the madness of joy to that of despair was more 
than the strongest man could stand, after nearly twelve 
years' captivity, but fortunately I broke down and 
sobbed like a child. 

During the night we could hear the pat, pat, pat of 
at first a few dozen feet, until eventually we could tell 
that thousands were running into the town. It is no 
use relating the tales then told us, I will relate what 
actually occurred. After the bombardment of the 
forts, the Khaleefa sent messengers to bring in all 
news from Omdurman. When told that all the forts 
had been destroyed, he ordered a salute to be fired in 
token of his having gained a victory, and called out, 
" Ed deen mansour" — the Faith is Triumphant ! But 

* The flight of the shells overhead had a most extraordinary effect ; they appeared to compress 
the atmosphere and press it down to the earth ; we could actually feel the pressure on our bodies, 
and with some it brought on nausea. 



NEARING THE END 



267 



other messengers were hurrying in, and as they came 
with grave faces and asked to see Yacoub before 
delivering their news to the Khaleefa, it was soon 
noised abroad that the volley from the rifles was only 
to try and hide something serious which had occurred. 
First, it was learned that, instead of the gunboats 
having been destroyed, it was the forts which had 
been battered to pieces. Then the more superstitious 
lost heart when it was related that one of the " devils" 
had entered the sacred tomb of the Mahdi, and 
numbers deserted desertwards, afterwards striking 
back to town. Later on, it became known that not 
only had one of the shells destroyed the Mimbar 
(pulpit), but had also destroyed the Mihrab — that 
sacred niche in the wall of the mosque giving the 
direction of Mecca. What rallying-place was there 
now for Mahdieh ? And so more deserted. 

Between ten and eleven at night a riderless horse 
from the British or Egyptian cavalry came slowly 
moving, head down, towards the dervish lines. The 
Khaleefa had related how, in one of his visions, he had 
seen the Prophet mounted on his mare riding at the 
head of the avenging angels destroying the infidels. 
This apparition of the riderless horse was too much ; 
at least one-third of the Khaleefa's huge army deserted 
terrified. When Yacoub told him of the desertions, 
Abdullahi merely raised his head to say, " The 
prophecy will be fulfilled, if only five people stay near 
me." His Baggara and Taaishi stood by him, but 
they too were losing heart, for the Khaleefa, on his 
knees, with head bowed to the ground, was groaning, 



268 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



instead of, as customary, repeating the name of the 
Deity. However, he pulled round a little as the 
night progressed, and invented visions enough to 
put spirits into the remaining but slightly despondent 
troops. 



CHAPTER XXII 



AT LAST 

It will, I believe, surprise but few when I admit that 
it is next to impossible for me to remember and relate 
the incidents which occurred during my last night and 
day in the Saier. Added to the general excitement 
shared by every one, I had also to contend against 
the mental excitement which, earlier in the day, had 
almost deprived me of reason. From where I lay 
chained to a gang of about forty prisoners, I could hear 
the infuriated Baggara in the Umm Hagar heaping 
their curses on the head of that " son of a dog — Ab- 
dallah Nufell," and promising what would happen 
when they laid hands upon me. These were no idle 
promises that they made. Apart from the threats 
which may not be spoken of, those of " drinking my 
blood " at the moment my brothers reached Omdur- 
man almost froze that blood in my veins. 

The whole night through we could hear the soft pat, 
pat, pat of naked feet, and sometimes the hard breathing 
of men running a race. Not having heard any firing, 
we made all sorts of conjectures. At one moment it was 
thought that the troops had rushed one of the zareebas 



2 jo A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



under cover of darkness, and that these were the fugi- 
tives coming into town ; at another moment it was be- 
lieved that the Khaleefa had altered his plans, and had 
decided to stand a siege in Omdurman. Next it was 
thought that the dervishes had rushed the camp of 
the troops ; but this idea was soon discarded, for the 
people running back to town would have still had 
breath to yell out the news of victory. I have 
already given the reasons for these people returning, 
but I only learned them later; to us prisoners, the 
night passed in anxiety, and amidst alternate hopes 
and fears. 

Daylight was only creeping through the skies when 
we heard a low boom, followed by an ever-increasing 
volume of yells and screechings as of Pandemonium 
let loose, and then a terrific explosion which positively 
shook Omdurman. The town could not stand this 
sort of thing for ten minutes ; we gave ourselves up for 
lost, but the bombardment ceased as suddenly as it 
began. I asked one of the gaoler's boys to climb to 
the roof of the Umm Hagar to see what the gunboats 
were doing, as it was believed that the shells had 
been fired by them. He called back that they were 
" standing still" near Halfeyeh, and not firing at all. 
As we could hear the distant booming still going on, 
we knew then that the English were holding their 
own if nothing more, and hope returned. 

It did not need the boy to call out when the gun- 
boats moved down stream that they, too, were opening 
fire on the dervish camps ; we could almost follow the 
tide of battle in that furious artillery duel from the. 



AT LAST 



271 



alternate roars and silence as of waves breaking on a 
rock-bound coast. There was no doubt in our minds 
now that the tactics of the Atbara had been repeated, 
and that the zareebas were being shelled preparatory 
to being stormed ; the conjecture was wrong, as we 
learned later. Then the rattle of musketry was borne 
down on the wind ; it was not the rattle of dervish 
rifles either ; we knew the sound of these when fired. 
Then followed a long silence, only to be succeeded by 
another terrific fusillade ; to us prisoners, it was the 
reserve zareeba which was now being carried. But the 
tale of the battle is old, and who has not heard of that 
second fight on the day of Omdurman, when Mac- 
Donald's brigade withstood the combined attack of 
the armies of Sheikh ed Din and Yacoub ? 

One must go amongst the survivors of that attack to 
learn the details of the fight. Those having glasses in 
the British lines must have noticed Yacoub prancing 
about on horseback in front of his lines ; this was in 
imitation of the man he could see on horseback in 
front of the brigade which was mowing down his men 
by hundreds at each volley. They have learned since 
who the man was, and " MacDonald " with " Es- 
Sirdar " is now a name to conjure with in the Soudan. 
It was not the first time MacDonald had so terribly 
punished the dervishes, while commanding troops 
which they had expected would throw down their 
arms and bolt, as in olden days. 

While all this was occurring on the field of battle, 
I in prison, to hide my excitement — and really to 
calm my overstrung nerves, — took the Ratib of Ibrahim 



272 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



Wad-el-Fahel, and occupied myself with " illumina- 
ting 99 its pages with red- and black-ink designs ; this 
was an occupation I had often earned a few dollars at, 
but Fahel still owes me for my last exploit in £l illumi- 
nation." I left the work unfinished about noon to 
attend to two young men attached to the prison, who 
had come in from the fight, one with a bullet over the 
left temple, and the other with a bullet in the muscle 
of the left arm. Provided only with a penknife, I 
made a cross cut over the spot where I could in one 
case see, and the other feel the bullet imbedded, and 
pressed them out ; both bullets had kept their shape, 
and must have been encountered at extreme range, or 
rather beyond it. 

Maybe, with a European, chloroform might have 
been necessary for the extraction of the bullet in 
the arm, but with a Soudanese — have I not already 
said that a dervish can continue leaping and stabbing 
with half a dozen severe wounds in his body ? A 
dervish can and will kill at the moment when the ven- 
tricles of his heart make their last contraction. Bodily 
pain, as we understand it, is unknown to them. Many a 
time have I applied, and seen applied, red-hot charcoal 
to sores, with the patients calmly looking on. With 
my present patients, after dabbing a little carbolic 
acid over the wounds, I asked what news they had 
brought. Yacoub, they said, was killed ; almost all 
the faithful were killed or wounded ; the Khaleefa 
himself was running back to town, but they had out- 
stripped him. While still questioning them, Idris es 
Saier told me that the Muslimanieh who had been 



AT LAST 



273 



taken out to fight had made their way back to town, 
and were rummaging for European clothes in which to 
array themselves to receive the troops when they 
arrived. 

I should here take up the tales of those who were 
fighting in the dervish lines in order to present a com- 
plete narrative. At sunrise on September 2, Sheikh 
ed Din determined on attacking with his army of 
riflemen and cavalry, leaving Yacoub, with whom 
was his father, the Khaleefa, as a reserve. The 
shells which fell amongst his men did not knock them 
over or mow them down in lanes, they " blew a 
hundred men and horses high into the air " ; then, 
when the rifle fire struck them, it " rolled them about 
like little stones." The carnage was so frightful that 
Sheikh ed Din himself led the way to the shelter in 
a khor to the west of Surgham hill. 

And now, to understand clearly what followed next, 
and in a measure to explain the post of honour being 
given to Sheikh ed Din, I must refer to an incident 
occurring at the last moment before the army left 
Omdurman. Khaleefa Shereef, since his insurrection 
against Abdullahi, had not been allowed to exhibit the 
white flag made specially for the family of the Mahdi. 
It was believed that Abdullahi intended to nominate 
his son to succeed him, but this was against the ex- 
pressed order of the Mahdi that Wad Helu and then 
Shereef should do so. While Sheikh ed Din was 
given the principal command, Shereef was not allowed 
any command at all, nor was the white flag of Mahdieh 
brought out of the Beit-el-Amana. Discontent was 

T 



274 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

openly expressed at this, and some of the more re- 
ligious or fanatic of the Mahdists demanded to know 
whether it was Abdullahi or Mahdieh they were to 
fight for. Abdullahi was advised to bring out the 
white flag, and it was carried at the extreme left of 
his army, but Sheikh ed Din Abdullahi had hoped 
would return as the victor of Kerreri, and thus his 
succession could be assured with the aid of a vision. 

Seeing the repulse of Sheikh ed Din, the Kha- 
leefa ordered the advance of Yacoub's army, and, as 
they were advancing, Sheikh ed Din collected his 
men and joined it. Then it was that the determined 
attack was made on MacDonald's brigade. The 
Khaleefa had dismounted, and, sitting on his prayer- 
skin, surrounded by his Mulazameen six deep, he 
held communion again with the Prophet and the 
Mahdi, while his army was being thinned by the 
thousands. Yacoub, with his Emirs and bodyguard 
of horsemen, rode in front of the troops and did his 
best to incite them to a final rush on the brigade. 
The white flag of Mahdieh was pushed close to where 
the 2nd Egyptian battalion, under Colonel Pink, was 
posted, and five standard-bearers in succession were 
shot down ; others ran to raise it only to be shot 
down in turn, until the flag was buried under the slain. 

Almost at this moment a well-aimed shell blew 
Yacoub and his bodyguard " high in the air," and 
before the Khaleefa's eyes ; the black flag was 
planted, but the dervishes had had a lesson. Yunis, 
breaking through Abdullahi's bodyguard, ran to him, 
saying, ** Why do you sit here ? Escape ; every one is 



AT LAST 



275 



beinof killed ; " but Abdullahi sat still, dazed and 
stupefied with what he had seen. With the help of 
others, Yunis raised him to his feet, and actually 
pushed and bundled him along. Then Abdullahi 
started running on foot. He refused to mount a 
horse or camel ; after stumbling and falling three 
times, Yunis persuaded him to mount a donkey. His 
army was now in full retreat, and " Where, oh, 
Abdullahi — where is the victory you promised ? " as- 
sailed his ears. Calling his camel syce, Abou Gekka, 
he told him to hurry on a fast camel to Omdurman, 
collect his wives, children, and treasures, and conduct 
them to the Zareeba-el-Arrda (parade-ground) to the 
west of Omdurman, where he would meet them, and 
then all were to fly together. On reaching the 
zareeba, his household were not visible, and hearing 
that there were still thousands of his troops in Om- 
durman, he was persuaded to enter the town, and 
make a last stand at the praying-ground. When 
nearing the mosque, Abdullahi saw Yacoub's eunuch 
waiting there. Telling him to collect Yacoub's wives, 
children, etc., and take them to the zareeba, the 
eunuch asked, " Where is my master ? " Abdullahi 
then probably for the last time exercised his power of 
life and death. Turning to one of those near him, he 
said, " Who is this slave, to question my orders ? " and 
the eunuch fell dead at Abdullahi's feet with a bullet 
through his head. 

Reaching the large praying enclosure, Abdullahi 
ordered the drums and ombeyehs to be sounded, but 
few or none obeyed the summons ; some came, looked 



276 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



at him sitting there mute, and slunk off ; some, I have 
heard, jibed at him by asking if he was "sitting on his 
farwah." The farwah, or prayer-skin, is what the 
leaders formerly stood upon when the day was lost, and 
awaited their death. Finding himself deserted by all, 
he called for his secretary, Abou-el-Gassim, and asked 
what could be done. Gassim, whether in a sarcastic 
vein or not, recommended that he should continue 
praying where he was, and, maybe, his prayers would 
still bring victory ; but there being none to join in the 
prayers, he asked Gassim to collect his household, and 
bring them to him. Gassim went off, and did not 
return. 

At this time the Taaishi, Baggara, Berti Hab- 
banieh, Rhizaghat, Digheem and other tribes, whom 
he formerly depended upon for support, were stream- 
ing off to the number of probably fifteen thousand, 
from the south of the town. Calling two men, he asked 
them to go outside the town, and see how far the 
Government troops were distant. The messengers, 
on reaching the Tombs of the Martyrs, about twelve 
hundred yards from where Abdullahi was sitting, sud- 
denly came across the Sirdar and his staff standing at 
the angle of the great wall ; they watched the staff 
move off towards the Beit-el-Mal, and returned and 
reported this to Abdullahi. Slipping through the door 
communicating with his house, he changed his clothes, 
collected the remainder of his household, and quietly 
slipped off while the Sirdar was making the complete 
circuit of Omdurman with the exception of those twelve 
hundred yards. It is a thousand pities, as things 



AT LAST 



277 



actually were, that the staff did not continue in the 
direction they were then taking, for a few minutes' trot 
along the deserted street leading to the prayer-ground 
would have allowed the Sirdar to lay his hands upon 
Abdullahi, as he sat there absolutely alone, on the 
spot where he had hoped that his faithful would make 
their last stand. 

The sun was falling, and still we in prison did not 
know exactly how the day had gone. We had 
heard the drums and ombeyehs, which told us that 
Abdullahi was calling upon the faithful to assemble at 
the prayer-ground ; a cloud of dust on the desert and 
the gunboats slow T ly steaming up, meant that the troops 
were advancing on the town. Idris es Saier came and 
asked me what he was to do — to go to his master 
or wait for the English. I advised him to close the 
gates of the prison, use his rifles upon any of the 
Baggara trying to force an entrance, and wait and see 
who would ask for the keys — the expected Sirdar or 
the Khaleefa. In all cases, I told him, it was his duty 
to protect the prisoners in his charge, and reminded 
him of Fauzi's tale of the two gaolers. When we 
heard the shrill cries of the women, we knew that some 
one was being welcomed, and guessed correctly that it 
was the English at last. Idris, in his anxiety to secure 
his prisoners, had us all chained in gangs earlier than 
usual, and this linking of my gang to the common 
chain had only just been completed when Idris came, 
frightened out of his life, as one could tell by his voice, 
to tell me that the " place was filled with my English 
brothers," that a big, tall man, who, he was told, was 



278 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



the dreaded Sirdar, had asked for me, and that I was 
to come at once. 

It seemed an age while the chain was being 
slipped from my shackles, and then, led by Idris, I 
made my way to the gate of the Saier. I was crying 
dry eyed ; I could see a blurred group, and then I 
was startled out of my senses by hearing English 
spoken — the only words of a European language I had 
heard for seven long years. From that blurred group, 
and through the gloom, came a voice, " Are you 
Neufeld ? are you well ? " And then a tall figure stepped 
towards me, and gave my hand a hearty shake. It 
was the Sirdar. I believe I babbled something as I 
received a handshake from one, and a slap on the 
shoulder from another, but I do not know what I said. 
Looking down at my shackles, the Sirdar asked, " Can 
these be taken off now ? — I am going on." I believe 
a seconds discussion went on with Idris, and then I 
heard the last order I was to receive and obey in 
the Saier, " Neufeld, out you go /" It was the Sirdar's 
order, and, half carried by the friendly and strong arms 
supporting me, I obeyed. The next thing I remem- 
bered was a British officer slipping off his horse, lifting 
me into the saddle, and trudging along at my side 
after the terribly trying and arduous day he must 
have had. 

I was taken to the " head-quarters' mess" at the camp; 
the Sirdar had, I believe, allowed himself the luxury 
of a broken angareeb on which to rest ; the staff were 
lying in all positions on the sand, fagged out, but hard 
at work with despatches and orders by the light of 



AT LAST 



279 



guttering candles. It was a hungry, thirsty, and dead- 
beat head-quarters' mess I had been invited to on the 
night of the memorable 2nd of September. While the 
comfort of the troops had been looked to, the Sirdar and 
his staff had evidently neglected themselves. Their 
canteen and mess were miles away on slow-travelling 
camels ; one of the most brilliant victories of the 
nineteenth century was being celebrated by a supper 
of a few biscuits, poor water, some of my prison bread, 
which I shared with others around me, and Cairo 
cigarettes, with the sand of the desert for seats, and 
the canopy of heaven as the roof over our heads. 

Soon after reaching the "mess," I heard a voice 
calling, "Where's Neufeld?" and the inquirer introduced 
himself to me ; it was Mr. Bennet Burleigh, of the 
Daily Telegraph. I had heard, and yet had not heard, 
much English spoken to me, but the flood of language 
he poured out when he found me still in chains came 
as a revelation to me ; it was as picturesque as his 
description of the battle which I have since read. 
Rushing off, he was back in a few moments with some 
farriers with their shoeing implements to try and 
remove my chains ; off again, he came with some 
engineers, and amidst a running torrent of abuse, anent 
cold chisels and other implements which he required 
and which were not forthcoming, he questioned me. 
Every one had a try at those chains ; some one I 
heard use language concerning the Khaleefa when he 
found his thumb between the hammer and the links, 
but with a great deal of strong language, and equally 
as strong blows, the links connecting with the anklets 



280 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



were cut through, but the anklets themselves were only 
removed, owing to want of appliances, on board 
Colonel Gordon's steamer a few minutes before he led 
the way to the troops who were to take part in the 
funeral-service at the spot where his hero uncle fell. 

While Slatin's countryman, Joseppi, was imprisoned 
with me, I was able to exercise my mother tongue, and 
correct his broken German, which gave me, at all 
events, some little amusement ; but after his murder, 
and the escape of Father Ohrwalder, I never had 
another opportunity of speaking a European language 
except in my dreams, and when I discovered myself 
talking to myself. For seven long years, with the 
exception of the word "torpedo," by which name the 
Algerian called his mines, I had not heard a syllable 
of a European tongue. The last Europeans I had 
spoken to before leaving Egypt were English ; the 
first language I was to hear on my release was English, 
and then a strange thing happened. As far as language 
was concerned, my brain became a blank from the 
moment I left Wadi Haifa, to the moment when the 
Sirdar called out, " Are you Neufeld?" so that when 
the German Military Attache spoke to me in German, 
while hearing, and in the main understanding what he 
said, I could not, much to his very evident annoy- 
ance, find w r ords in my mother tongue to reply. It 
was weeks after my return to Egypt before I was able 
to express myself properly in the German language. 
While to myself this was not to be greatly wondered 
at, yet the fact might be of interest to some scientist, 
who has made cerebral affections his particular study. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



THE SIRDAR AND SAVAGE WARFARE 

On the morning following the battle of Omdurman, a 
number of the townspeople came out to the camp, com- 
plaining of the rough usage which they had been sub- 
jected to at the hands of the Soudanese troops left in 
charge of the town, and of the looting of their houses. 
The majority, not knowing that the Sirdar and his 
staff were fluent Arabic scholars, brought their com- 
plaints to me, and asked me to interpret for them. In 
my then excited and half-dazed state, I rushed off to 
report the matters. Colonel Maxwell at once called 
up a hundred men, and with an officer and sergeant, 
instructed me to proceed to the town and see the men 
posted to the houses of the complainants. ■ The real 
truth of the matter, of course, only came out later, and 
as I do not know of any one else who is in as good a 
position as I am to relate it, I submit the following. 

Long before the troops reached the town, the 
inhabitants were busily engaged in looting the Mahdieh 
institutions and the deserted houses of the fleeing 
Baggara and others. Their local knowledge obviated 
the necessity of searching for loot ; they knew where 



282 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



there was anything at all worth taking and took it, 
anticipating the troops by half a day. Into every 
occupied house loot was being carried, if not by the 
head of the household, then by the servants and 
others attached to the establishment, while the head 
mounted guard. True, the soldiers did loot towards 
midnight ; but what ? angareebs (the native seats and 
bedsteads combined), on which to rest themselves 
instead of lying down on the filth-sodden ground of 
Omdurman. Heaven knows they richly deserved the 
temporary loan of these angareebs. Wherever resi- 
dents were looted, it was their own fault. The vic- 
torious and therefore happy and grinning Blacks kept 
an eye on their hereditary enemies — the lighter 
coloured population, as they passed backwards and 
forwards, always entering their huts loaded and 
emerging empty-handed. In their eagerness to col- 
lect all they could, they threw down their loot, and 
hurried off for more, and during their absence the 
Black " Tommy " annexed whatever he thought 
mieht be useful to him. 

The Sirdar himself could not have made a better 
arrangement than that which came of itself. The 
troops were enabled to keep at their posts with an 
eye open for any lurking Baggara ; the looting 
was being done for them by the residents, who 
knew exactly where to lay their hands upon any- 
thing worth taking, instead of time being wasted 
by searching empty houses, while the soldiers were 
kept in good spirits by having the fun of the 
looting without running the risk of being suddenly 



I 



! 



THE SIRDAR AND SAVAGE WARFARE 283 



confronted with half a dozen Baggara concealed in 
some hut or room. When some one came stagger- 
ing along under a particularly heavy load, a Black 
would assist him with his burden ; some of his com- 
rades would join in, and when the looter protested 
that he did not require any help, a little Soudan 
horseplay was indulged in, and later on these little 
pleasantries came up as grave charges of assault. 

The only people in Omdurman who had anything 
worth looting were the real Mahdists themselves — 
and they deserved to be looted of their ill-gotten 
gains. In dealing with any claims for compensation 
for having been looted, three things should be kept in 
mind — the complainant should prove that he was not 
a real Mahdist ; that what he was looted of on the even- 
ing of the 2nd of September was not the proceeds of his 
own looting during the day ; and, having got so far, 
should reconcile the fact of his having been looted of 
property and valuables with his tales of abject misery, 
poverty, and semi-starvation. 

It did not take me long to grasp the situation, for 
after seeing the soldiers posted to the houses of the 
" Government " people, I started on a voyage of dis- 
covery after the houses of the principal Baggara and 
others, and having had them pointed out to me, I 
recommended the soldiers to take their cleaning rods 
and bayonets, and probe the walls of the hareem rooms 
for hidden valuables. I am pleased to say that the 
suggested operations were not entirely without some 
gratifying results ; but a very small find indeed grati- 
fies the native troops. Whoever possessed property 



284 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



in Omdurman was either a thief or murderer. Most 
had bolted with the Khaleefa, and it was through no 
fault of theirs that they left a few dollars behind for 
people who could make good use of them. I regret 
now that I did not organize a looting party, and place 
myself at the head of it. 

I have heard of, but I have not read, the article or 
articles written by one of the correspondents who 
accompanied the Khartoum Expedition, consisting of a 
series of wholesale charges brought against the Sirdar 
and the troops in connection with " Khartoum Day." 
I gauge what the articles must have been from some 
of the letters written in reply. As every one appears 
to have criticized and shown how much better than 
the Sirdar they could have carried out the re- 
conquest of the Soudan, as the " oldest resident " I 
think I am entitled to express an opinion, and to 
criticize also. 

The Sirdar, in my opinion, made one grave error — 
he gave quarter ; and I have no doubt that, in doing so, 
he knew that he was doing a positive injustice to his 
Black troops in order to pander to an ignorant public 
opinion which he knew existed elsewhere. I know 
that some people, profoundly ignorant of the Soudan 
and its tribes, and their history, religion, laws, customs, 
and legal rights, will hold up their hands in holy 
horror, and jump to the conclusion that my long 
captivity has engendered a spirit of vindictiveness 
against my captors which has deadened in me every 
sense of humanity — and in this they will be wrong. 
Lord Kitchener of Khartoum made a grave error in 



THE SIRDAR AND SAVAGE WARFARE 285 



extending to a horde of murderers the advantages of 
civilized warfare, and the clemency he felt called upon 
to extend to them will cost England the loss of many a 
gallant life yet. 

There was not a man in the Black Battalions who 
had not, by the old Law of Moses, the laws of his 
country in which he was then fighting, the law of the 
Prophet, and the religious law, irrespective of the law 
handed down from the remotest ages, more right to 
take a life on that day than any judge in a civilized 
country has to sentence to death a man who has 
personally done him no wrong. Every man there 
was entitled to a life in retaliation for the murder of 
a father, the rape of a mother, wife, daughter, or 
sister, the mutilation of a brother or son, and his own 
bondage. To prevent, as the Sirdar did prevent, 
these soldiers from exercising their rights, was doing 
them an injustice, and running a risk as well, when 
it is remembered how they had slaved for this " Day 
of Retaliation." There may have been, doubtless 
were, many cases of the killing outright of wounded 
dervishes ; this was no more murder than a judicial 
hanging; and looking at the matter from a humanitarian 
point of view, would it not have been better to send 
those Blacks over the field to put the wounded out of 
their misery, and thus kill two birds with one stone ? 
For let it be remembered, that when a dervish sits and 
lies wounded, he is wounded to death, and only by 
force of will keeps himself alive until he dies happy 
at the moment when he sends his spear through the 
heart of his would-be saviour. I repeat, the Sirdar 



286 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



committed a grave error in extending to the dervishes 
the advantages of civilized warfare. I who have lived 
amongst the people, who have discussed with their 
greatest exponents of the religious law, and made com- 
parisons between the administration of their and our 
law r s, consider that I am well qualified to express an 
opinion, and better qualified than those who, with a 
command of language, can so present their views to 
the public that the cant, ignorance, and humbug — not 
to say hankering for notoriety which underlies it all — 
is hidden. 

You who have held up your hands in holy horror at 
the foregoing, prepare to hold them up again. 

The day after the battle of Kirbekan an outpost 
was being sent forward. Moving to its position, it 
espied a wounded dervish making signs for water 
One of the soldiers slipped off his camel to give him 
some, and his comrades moved on. As time went on, 
and their chum did not catch them up, they came 
back to see what had happened. There he was, still 
attending to the wounded dervish, his hand resting on 
his shoulder, but there was no movement from either. 
Approaching — this was the tale plainly written. The 
lines on the ground showed that " Tommy" had taken 
the wounded man in his arms, and half supporting 
and half dragging him, had placed him in a sitting 
posture in the shade, with his back against a rock ; 
then, taking his water-bottle, he began to pour the 
life-giving drops down the throat of the dervish, for 
he still grasped the empty water-bottle. With return- 
ing life came, of course, returning strength — sufficient 



THE SIRDAR AND SAVAGE WARFARE 287 



strength for the dervish to slip off his knife, poise his 
hand for a second of time behind "Tommy's" back, 
while he was occupied with his mission of mercy, and 
then, plunging it in with sufficient force to divide the 
spinal column, the dervish died happy as "Tommy" 
fell dead across his shoulder. That dervish was 
glorified in the Soudan, and thousands of others were 
awaiting the opportunity of dying as gloriously. Do 
you like the picture now ? These are the sort of 
people you howl for the protection of. If you wish 
the wounded dervishes to be attended to against their 
will, then institute some special decoration for those 
who return alive from their mission of mercy, and 
when you have discovered that for each decoration 
given, a few hundred valuable lives have been sacri- 
ficed, perhaps you will agree to the issue of orders 
which I, knowing what I do know, should issue now. 

If I had my say in the matter, when next the 
Government troops come face to face with the tribes, 
whom Lord Kitchener in his clemency spared to 
gather again around the Khaleefa, I should make it 
a drum-head court-martialling business for any doctor 
who risked the lives of his wounded in hospital by 
attempting to throw away his own in attending to a 
wounded dervish who does not want to live. He is 
wounded to death or would not be lying or sitting 
there, and he wants to die — but to die killing ; he wants 
your life's blood, not your aid and succour. As he 
wants to die — as he must die — then shoot him at once 
and put him out of his misery. In doing this, you are 
but acting humanely to a dying but still ferocious 



288 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



animal in the guise of a man. You are not taking a 
life needlessly, but in all probability saving a better 
one ; and as the troops pick their way over the field 
of battle, another bullet should be put into the 
"dead" and " wounded" from a distance a yard 
beyond the point to which a dervish can throw a 
spear, to prevent any more accidents. The number of 
soldiers killed by "dead" and "wounded" dervishes 
is great enough already, and it would be criminal to 
add to it. Have you no thought for some English 
mother mourning the loss of her brave lad, who threw 
away his life in attending to a wounded dervish, when 
she had been looking forward to his return as the 
hero of the village ? How many cottages in England 
have been made desolate by the hands of " dead " and 
" wounded " dervishes ? 

If none of the foregoing suggestions are acceptable, 
then let each correspondent accompanying an expedi- 
tion into the heart of Africa declare whether he votes 
for first aid to the wounded dervishes or not. If he 
does not, then let him hold his peace if he sees things 
which he would not expect to come across, were he 
witnessing the sequel to a fight between civilized 
peoples. If he declares for first aid, then give him 
a packet of bandages and a water-bottle, and let 
him put his principles into practice, while his more 
enlightened brother knights of the pen tag on to 
their despatches his obituary notice. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

BACK TO CIVILIZATION 

I must leave it to my readers to try and imagine what 
my sensations were as I sailed away from Omdurman 
on the first stage of my journey to civilization and 
liberty. Remembering the reason which I gave my 
wife, manager, and friends, when I was begged to 
abandon my projected journey into Kordofan, knowing 
that others knew how I had comported myself before 
my captors and Abdullahi, I was conscious that I had 
nothing to be ashamed of in the production of a worse 
than useless saltpetre, which I could easily have 
refined — but the real refinement of which I prevented. 
Nor was I ashamed of having designed impossible 
machines for the manufacture of powder and cartridges, 
in order to keep out of that terrible Saier; nor of 
the wilful destruction of so much good material for 
their construction, especially as there were living 
witnesses to bear me out. Thinking, therefore, that 
the small, very small, risk I ran in the collecting of 
information to send to the advancing armies might 
have been appreciated, I built up on my journey what 
proved to be a house of cards to be blown down by 

u 



290 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

a breath as soon as I reached Cairo. I was much 
disappointed in the reception awaiting me ; so also was 
every other released captive, and not a few Mahdists. 
Perhaps I am to blame for delaying at Berber for the 
purpose I have " admitted 99 in my chapter " Divorced 
and Married," when my arrival had been announced 
by a certain train ; but I have been punished for 
this, though even now I am too uncivilized to feel 
ashamed of the action, or to appreciate the justice of 
the strictures passed upon me in consequence. 

When at last I did reach Cairo, it was but to learn 
that although I had taken as "jokes" the compliments 
which I received on my way down, on the "manufacture 
of gunpowder with which to kill English soldiers " — 
on the " * damned clever ' design and construction of 
the forts to oppose the advance of the gunboats," on 
my " smartness in galloping away from the field when 
I saw it was all over for Mahdieh, and reaching the 
prison just in time to get on my chains again before 
the Sirdar put in his appearance" — yet these, and a 
great many other tales, were implicitly believed in. 
Moreover, they had lost nothing in being translated 
into the many languages spoken in Cairo, which include 
every language of Europe, with a few of the East. 

It was heartrending to me, after what I had gone 
through, to return to my own flesh and blood to be 
spurned and shunned as the incarnation of everything 
despicable in a man. I, who had defied my captors 
and had looked for death, wished for it more now that 
I was amongst my own people ; but fortunately the 
persecution I was subjected to, added to my change of 



BACK TO CIVILIZATION 



291 



life, caused me to break down completely, and when I 
recovered from my delirium it was to find myself in the 
hands of a few friends. Do not think that I had 
worried myself over what was mere idle gossip ; all 
the charges were made in sincerity, and this owing to 
the influential quarters whence they were emanating. 

A few days after receiving the generous offer of my 
publishers, I was told that I was a prisoner of war, 
and as such was debarred from entering into any 
engagements ; moreover, my experiences were said to 
be the property of the War Office. Later on, I was 
told that, in consideration of the subscriptions raised 
by a newspaper group in England for the purpose of 
effecting my escape some years ago, I was to write 
my experiences for the benefit of the subscribers. 
Then, after keeping me waiting weeks for a reply, 
they offered me £\oo — a sum not sufficient to pay the 
guides already in Cairo — and asked me to repay them 
the moneys they had lent me while in prison. When 
in reply to this offer I pointed out the ruined condition 
I am in, and offered to repay the subscribers the monies 
spent from the money I am to receive for my book, I 
was first threatened with an injunction upon the book, 
and then with the publication of " interesting " 
disclosures (?) concerning me. 

When H.R.H. Duke Johann Albrecht, the Regent 
of Mecklenburg, graciously writes to me himself, 
instructing me to call at the German Consul- General's, 
in Cairo, for some money sent there to " give me a 
new start in life," I am met, when I do present 
myself, with accusations of ingratitude and broken 



292 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

engagements towards people whose names I had never 
heard of. However, these people wrote disclaimers 
to the Times, saying that they knew nothing of the 
claims made against me in their names ; yet, in spite of 
the disclaimers, the money was impounded for about 
five months in all, and then some claims paid from it, 
but on whose account I am still ignorant. 

While all these charges are being levelled at me, I 
am warned that if I dare contradict anything published 
formerly concerning myself or Soudan affairs, certain 
correspondence will be communicated to the London 
Press ; yet what am I to do but contradict them 
wherever I can find a scrap of evidence to support my 
contradiction ? Surely I cannot be expected to confirm 
such reports in the face of the threats made verbally 
and in the columns of a newspaper, especially as I and 
mine must remain the social outcasts we have been 
since my release, until my narrative appears. I am 
writing more in grief than in anger ; these are all 
subjects I should have preferred not to mention in my 
narrative, and I am touching on them as lightly as is 
possible, but as others have chosen to publish them, by 
keeping silence I should be doing myself an injustice. 
My hand or tongue has been forced, therefore those 
who have taken the initial action against me must be 
responsible for the inevitable result which will follow 
when, questioned as to the foregoing by those entitled 
to ask for the evidence, I hand over for publication the 
whole of the correspondence. For the public, having 
been led to form opinions about me on the strength of 
the reports and explanations printed, have the right to 



BACK TO CIVILIZATION 



293 



know the whole truth before pronouncing a second 
judgment ; but my narrative ought not to be burdened 
with such a voluminous correspondence. Surely a 
kind Providence kept watch over the few documents 
which I have been fortunate enough to find after all 
these years, and which are of such value to me in 
substantiating my story. 

Amongst the many articles published concerning me, 
one printed in the London and Provincial papers on 
the 5th and 6th of September last caused me con- 
siderable injury in England and Egypt, and, maybe, 
irreparable injury in my native country, to which I 
have appealed for the rights of citizenship which my 
capture and long captivity precluded my returning to 
claim during 1887. To this appeal I have as yet 
received no answer — and little wonder. On the 
appearance of this article, some of my countrymen 
attacked me in no measured terms, and I was shunned 
by them as they would shun a pestilence. The 
communication made was on the presumable authority 
of General Hunter, as his name is mentioned ; but so 
sure am I that he was no more capable of communi- 
cating such a report for publication than he is of 
turning his back in the face of an enemy, that I have 
not so much as written to him asking his denial. I 
was advised to allow these reports to accumulate and 
circulate, and reply to them en bloc in my narrative, 
leaving a deceived public to take up the matter. The 
article I refer to reads as follows : — 

" Twice had every preparation been made. The relays of camels 
to take the exile across the desert were ready. Nothing remained 



294 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



but for Neufeld to pluck up courage and quit Omdurman. Each 
time he backed out at the last moment. At length he confessed the 
truth, namely, that he did not care to come away. He had married a 
black wife. His friends in Germany were dead or had forgotten him. 
He would stay where he was." 

Is it not possible to find some one to swear that 
more than two attempts were made during those long 
twelve years to extricate me ? I have in my narrative 
said all that I know of the visits of any guides to 
Omdurman. Having been promised the publication 
of interesting documents concerning me, perhaps the 
proofs of the above will be forthcoming ; let it be 
proved that on even one occasion relays of camels were 
posted to effect my escape, and at the same time let it 
be proved that the guide who posted those relays ever 
came to me. 

It is quite possible that there are a sheaf of letters 
waiting to be published bearing my signature ; and 
maybe when they are, I shall learn their contents for 
the first time. I had to sign many letters the con- 
tents of which I was ignorant of, as is evidenced by 
the letter to my manager, and the letter to General 
Stephenson, in reply to the one he entrusted me with 
when I went on my expedition. This letter was photo- 
graphed, and a translation is given on p. 336. The 
reply was dictated by Abdullahi to his secretary, and 
handed me to sign. Let the note, letter, or report, on 
which my refusal to escape is founded, be produced, and 
then see if the date of it does not correspond with the 
date of the maturing of one of my many plans for 
escape. But do not press me too closely for my reason 



BACK TO CIVILIZATION 



295 



for writing or giving such a message. If I gave it I 
should be committing as great an injustice as did poor 
Lupton, when sending back part of the monies sent 
him by his friends at Suakin, who were trying to effect 
his escape, wrote. . . . Those friends are still living, 
and as they have not chosen to tell the world what they 
did for their countrymen, and how it was that their 
schemes fell through, I may not do so — at least, not yet. 

If I lied, as I have been told to my face that I 
did, when I denied some of the charges made against 
me, why should more credence be given me for 
sincerity in notes refusing to escape than was given 
to Slatin's protestations of loyalty in his letter to the 
Khaleefa when he escaped? If during my capture 
and my long captivity my behaviour was unmanly, or 
such as I, a European, ought to be ashamed of, then 
let the proofs be at once forthcoming. Do not weary 
me out and keep the world against me with threats 
of coming disclosures ; moreover, have I not good 
reason to complain of the communication of everything 
damaging to me while everything in my favour is 
suppressed ? 

The sources of information, reference, and assistance 
thrown open to Ohrwalder and Slatin when compiling 
their experiences have been closed to me. When 
Slatin arrived in Cairo, he was handed the state- 
ments of guides reporting his " persistent refusals to 
escape," and allowed to be the first to inform the 
world of their existence. When I arrive in Cairo, 
I find that similar reports concerning me have been 
given wide publicity and believed in. Why, I ask, 



296 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



should it have been believed that the guides' reports 
were false in Slatin's case and true in mine ? and 
why should I not have been given the opportunity 
of first announcing their existence to the world ? 
Perhaps, before I have completed my narrative, people 
will come to the conclusion that some of those privi- 
leged to look at all my papers have, for some reason 
or another, felt that it was necessary thoroughly to 
discredit me, so that, when my story appeared, I 
should not be believed in ; but then, who could have 
foreseen that I should ever be so fortunate as to 
collect any evidence in support of it ? 

It has been suggested that maybe I have taken too 
much to heart the " tales being told about " me ; that 
they were but gossip. It was no idle gossip for me. 
I was persuaded, much against my wish, to attend a 
hotel garden-party, my first and last appearance in 
public in Cairo, for this was the sequel : One of my 
few friends connected with the Press there handed me 
some cuttings containing the usual inaccuracies and 
slanders, and while sitting down in a corridor, my 
amanuensis at my side taking notes as I read 
them over, I heard, " Hello, how is that book of 
Neufeld's getting on ?" The speaker, when asked if 
he knew Neufeld, blurted out, " Know him — no, nor 
do I want to know him, considering the number of 
English soldiers he has sent to eternity with his gun- 
powder. I would not even look at the fellow's face." 
And as my companion whispered, "This is Neufeld," I 
raised my head just in time to see the representative 
of a great news agency hurrying through the doorway. 



BACK TO CIVILIZATION 



297 



Maybe, on the appearance of this, Reuters Cairo i\gent 
may not be averse to telling me on what or whose 
authority he made this charge in my own hearing. 
The incident for the moment is closed, but if it is re- 
opened, it must be re-opened somewhere where highly 
placed officials may not be successfully appealed to 
to go around asking lawyers not to take up my case. 
Memo, for that News-Agency representative — " Walls 
have ears," and " Don't shout till you are out of the 
wood." 

I trust that when I send up my card to the London 
correspondent of the newspaper from whose article 
I have quoted, he will, instead of imitating his 
brother knight of the pen in Cairo, at least receive 
me, and examine the originals of the documents 
inserted in my narrative, disproving the charges 
which he was the medium of circulating in England 
and on the Continent. Then, if satisfied with their 
genuineness in the first place, and in the second place 
convinced that during my long captivity I was striving 
more than any other captive to effect my escape, he 
will at least, when next writing to his readers, try to 
do what little he can towards repairing the great 
injury which he did me in England, though it was 
without malice, I admit, and then try to have his error 
corrected in the German papers. I ask nothing more 
than this. Is it too much to ask ? 

But from the sea of slander and uncharitableness in 
which I was struggling, there rose some kindly hands 
to help me. When pressed by the War Office to repay 
the £20 I had borrowed from it on the way down — 



2 9 3 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



with my old guides in Cairo asking me to redeem the 
receipts they had for monies lent me while in prison — 
with the monies kindly sent me from Berlin to give 
me a " new start in life " impounded — with the hand 
of every one against me, after calling at one bank and 
being refused, I went to Mr. Hewett Moxley, an old 
friend of the Bleichroders, of Berlin, and now the 
Director of the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Cairo. 
Handing him my file of letters and telegrams, I asked 
if he thought that they contained sufficient guarantees 
for my being able eventually to repay the money which 
I wished him to advance to me. He left me for a few 
moments, and then returned, and as he went over one 
letter after the other, my hopes fell, for he remarked that 
my "guarantees were not of the very highest order," and 
that my " credentials were not of a very satisfactory 
nature." But I knew a few moments later that these 
were pithy, maybe sarcastic, remarks upon the letters 
which he was glancing through, for while engaged upon 
these running comments, his clerk was counting out 
^150 in gold for my immediate needs, and opening a 
credit for a further ^250. I thoroughly enjoyed his 
joke, so different from those I had so far encountered, 
for his action was the first kindly one which I received 
in civilization. 

It was late on a Saturday night when, for the first 
time, I rose from my bed of sickness to meet the 
proprietor of one of those great English papers, which 
I had been promised were to hound me. In spite 
of the assurances given me, it was with no little 
nervousness that I approached him ; but instead of 



BACK TO CIVILIZATION 



299 



the ogre whom I had expected to meet, I found 
myself being supported by a kindly spoken English 
gentleman, assisted to an easy-chair, and tucked up in 
rugs. A few waiters were in attendance, and the 
" ogre " was blaming himself for having asked me to 
call and see him, and begging my forgiveness, as he 
did not know that I was so ill. The " ogre " was Sir 
George Newnes. He listened patiently to all I had 
to say, went through my correspondence, ventured the 
opinion that certain actions directed against me were 
" monstrous," told me not to believe that the English 
Press would attack me without reason, and recom- 
mended me, as soon as I was well, to go ahead with 
my book and collect every scrap of evidence which I 
could in support of my own story. I have followed his 
advice, but the collecting of the little evidence which 
I have got has been no light task, groping as I was 
in the darkness of a twelve years' oblivion. 

I must not forget either to acknowledge the hand- 
some treatment which I have received at the hands of 
my publishers, who have kept me in funds, and with 
extraordinary patience awaited the completion of my 
narrative ; but the absolute necessity of collecting 
proofs for what I state, in face of the threats dangling 
over my head, accounts for the long delay. 



CHAPTER XXV 



HOW GORDON DIED 

When the news of the Sirdar's splendid victory 
reached England, the British nation may be said to 
have breathed again, and when the great rush was 
made for the cheap edition of " Ten Years' Captivity,'' 
which was extensively advertised with my portrait to 
catch attention, the few known details of Gordon's 
death became as fresh again in people's minds as they 
had been years before. I was constantly asked to relate 
all I had heard concerning Gordon. When I had done 
so I was invariably met with quotations and readings 
from "Mahdism," " Ten Years' Captivity," "Fire 
and Sword," and other works ; for what I had been 
told of Gordon's death by eye-witnesses was an 
entirely different history to those published. 

The first to relate the story of Gordon's death was 
a man whose tongue Gordon had threatened to cut 
out as the only cure for his inveterate lying, and 
when he escaped and reached Cairo, in telling his 
tale he sustained his reputation. All accounts of 
Gordon's death have apparently been based upon 
this first one received. Gordon, the world has been 



HOW GORDON DIED 



301 



made to believe, died as a coward, for what other 
construction may be placed on the assertion that he 
turned his back upon his assailants, and in his back 
received his mortal wound ? It is an infamous lie ; but, 
then, what was to be expected from a man whom 
Gordon knew so well, and who, maybe, had good 
reason to invent the tale he did ? I quote, side by 
side, what may be called the three official accounts of 
Gordons death : — 



Mahdism. 

"He (Gordon) 
made a gesture of 
scorn with his right 
hand, and turned his 
back, where he re- 
ceived another spear 
wound which caused 
him to fall forward 
and was most likely 
his mortal wound . . . 
He made no resist- 
ance, and did not 
fire a shot from his 
revolver." 

"... One of them 
rushing up, stabbed 
him with his spear, 
and others then fol- 
lowed, and soon he 
was killed. . . . He 
(Nejoumi) ordered 
the body to be dragged 
downstairs into the 
garden, where his 
head was cut off." 



Ohrwalder. 

"The first Arab 
plunged his huge spear 
into his body. He 
fell fo7"ward on his 
face, was dragged 
down the stairs, 
many stabbed him 
with their spears, 
and his head was 
cut off and sent to 
the Mahdi? 



Slatin. 

" The first man up 
the steps plunged his 
huge spear i?ito his 
body ; he fell forward 
on his face without 
uttering a word. His 
murderers dragged 
him down the steps to 
the palace entrance, 
and here his head 
was cut off a?id at 
once sent over to the 
Mahdi." 



302 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



It will be noticed that Father Ohrwalder's account 
appears to be a condensation of the first given, while 
it is hard to believe that a coincidence only accounts 
for Slatin giving the history in almost the identical 
words used by Ohrwalder. It is still more extra- 
ordinary that the first account should ever have been 
believed and published, and still more extraordinary 
that it was not corrected by Ohrwalder and Slatin, for 
when I arrived in Omdurman, in 1887, the real details 
of the death of Gordon were the theme of conversa- 
tion whenever his name was mentioned, and there 
are many eye-witnesses to his death — or were until 
the battle of Omdurman, who could tell a very 
different tale. 

Those who knew Charles George Gordon, will 
believe me when I aver that he died, as they must all 
have believed that he died — in spite of the official and 
semi-official accounts to the contrary — as the soldier 
and lion-hearted man he was. Gordon did not rest his 
hand on the hilt of his sword and turn his back to his 
enemies to receive his mortal wound. Gordon drew 
his sword, and used it. When Gordon fell, his sword 
was dripping with the blood of his assailants, for no 
less than sixteen or seventeen did he cut down with it. 
When Gordon fell, his left hand was blackened with 
the unburned powder from his at least thrice-emptied 
revolver. When Gordon fell, his life's blood was 
pouring from a spear and pistol-shot wound in his 
right breast. When Gordon fell, his boots were 
slippery with the blood of the crowd of dervishes he 
shot and hacked his way through, in his heroic attempt 




KHALEEL AGHA ORPHALI. 



HOW GORDON DIED 



to cut his way out and place himself at the head 
of his troops. Gordon died as only Gordon could 
die. Let the world be misinformed and deceived 
about Soudan affairs with the tales of so-called guides 
and spies, but let it be told the truth of Gordon's death. 

A week before the fall of Khartoum, Gordon had 
given up hopes. Calling Ibrahim Pasha Fauzi, he 
ordered him to provision one of the steamers, get all 
the Europeans on board, and set off for the north. To 
their credit be it said, they refused to leave unless 
Gordon saved his own life with theirs. Finding him 
obdurate, a plot was made to seize him while asleep, 
carry him off, and save him in spite of himself ; but he 
somehow heard of the plot, smiled, and said it was his 
duty to save their lives if he could, but it was also his 
duty to "stick to his post." As the troops must be 
near, then sail north, he told them, and tell them to 
hurry up. 

Each day at dawn, when he retired to rest, he bolted 
~his door from the inside, and placed his faithful body- 
servant — Khaleel Agha Orphali — on guard outside it. 
On the fatal night, Gordon had as usual kept his vigil 
on the roof of the palace, sending and receiving tele- 
graphic messages from the lines every few minutes, 
and as dawn crept into the skies, thinking that the 
long-threatened attack was not yet to be delivered, he 
lay down wearied out. The little firing heard a few 
minutes later attracted no more attention than the 
usual firing which had been going on continuously 
night and day for months, but when the palace guards 
were heard firing it was known that something serious 



304 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



was happening. By the time Gordon had slipped 
into his old serge or dark tweed suit, and taken his 
sword and revolver, the advanced dervishes were 
already surrounding the palace. Overcoming the 
guards, a rush was made up the stairs, and Gordon 
was met leaving his room. A small spear was thrown 
which wounded him, but very slightly, on the left 
shoulder. Almost before the dervishes knew what was 
happening, three of them lay dead, and one wounded, 
at Gordon's feet — the remainder fled. Quickly re- 
loading his revolver, Gordon made for the head of 
the stairs, and again drove the reassembling dervishes 
off. Darting back to reload, he received a stab in his 
left shoulder-blade from a dervish concealed behind the 
corridor door, and on reaching the steps the third time, 
he received a pistol-shot and spear-wound in his right 
breast, and then, great soldier as he was, he rose almost 
above himself. With his life's blood pouring from his 
breast — not his back, remember — he fought his way 
step by step, kicking from his path the wounded and 
dead dervishes — for Orphali too had not been idle — 
and as he was passing through the doorway leading 
into the courtyard, another concealed dervish almost 
severed his right leg with a single blow. Then Gordon 
fell. The steps he had fought his way — not been 
dragged — down, were encumbered with the bodies of 
dead and dying dervishes. No dervish spear pierced 
the live and quivering flesh of a prostrate but still 
conscious Gordon, for he breathed his last as he turned 
to face his last assailant, half raised his sword to strike, 
and fell dead with his face to heaven. 



HOW GORDON DIED 



3°5 



Even had I not been specially requested, as the last 
of the Soudan captives, to relate in my narrative all that 
I had heard and learned concerning Gordon, I should 
have done so to a certain extent at all events, for he 
was no more the hero of the British people than he 
was mine, and the belief that he was still alive had no 
little to do with my ill-starred journey in 1887. The 
truth about his death, which is now published for the 
first time, is ample justification for what follows con- 
cerning him while still alive. It is true, as I have 
been told, that all I can have to say will be from 
"hearsay;" but then all the reports published con- 
cerning Gordon's last days are from hearsay. I have 
the advantage over all others in this — that I was 
maybe the one man, captive or not, in Omdurman 
whom Mahdist and " Government" man alike could 
trust implicitly and confide in, for there was no 
questioning what my attitude was towards Abdullahi 
and Mahdieh. The consequence was that old "Govern- 
ment" people and the powerful men who from time 
to time became my fellow-prisoners, and, as a con- 
sequence, enemies of Abdullahi, gave me confidences 
which, if given in other quarters, might have resulted 
in the loss of a head. 

Again, almost all the tales told about the Soudan 
may be classed in one of two categories ; the first, 
tales like mine, related by people interested in putting 
their own version upon events and incidents with 
which they were personally connected, and the second, 
tales told by people with versions for which they 
believed their questioners were hankering, so that what 

x 



306 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



was white to " A " became black to " B," if it was 
considered that this colour pleased " B 99 best. The 
system scarcely puts a premium on accuracy. 

But before proceeding to my comments on the 
criticisms, a few introductory remarks are called for to 
prevent misconceptions and misunderstandings arising 
in the minds of my readers. As an evidence that the 
following is not intended — far from it — to lacerate the 
feelings of any of those who suffered with me, I might 
mention that I have read over the notes of this 
chapter to many of my fellow-captives, and have, at 
their suggestion, cut out a series of incidents well 
known to Gordon, which influenced him in the stand 
he took towards certain people, and other incidents 
which prove how clear and long-sighted he was, and 
how events justified his taking up the stand which 
he did. One incident ought to be written, to punish 
on this earth, if possible, the man whose escape has not 
been recorded, and whose deserted and broken-hearted 
wife lies by the side of their unshriven baby-boy in the 
sands of the Soudan. However, maybe Gordon, had 
he come back alive to meet all the calumnies directed 
against him, would have hesitated to help his " clear- 
ance" by stabbing the living with a dead hand, and 
out of respect to his memory this incident, with a 
number of others, has been expunged. . 

I have already told Father Ohrwalder that, in 
commenting upon what he says in "Ten Years' 
Captivity,'*' when speaking of Gordons actions, the 
remarks I may feel called upon to make are not 
intended for him personally, and although I foresee 



HOW GORDON DIED 



that I must in the main have to speak as to the 
second person, I think Father Ohrwalder quite under- 
stands that the second person in this instance is his 
book, not himself. I do not, as I have told him, 
consider that he is directly responsible for the opinions 
he is credited with in " Ten Years' Captivity," and 
this notwithstanding the remark, " The reader is 
reminded that all opinions expressed are those of 
Father Ohrwalder." Considering that Father Ohr- 
walder is a priest and missionary, and has ventured 
upon thin ice in attacking Gordon's memory, such 
a statement is hardly fair to him, as in the preface 
to the book it is stated, that " Father Ohrwalder's 
manuscript, which was in the first instance written in 
German, was roughly translated into English by 
Yusef Effendi Cudzi, a Syrian ; this I entirely re- 
wrote in narrative form ; the work therefore does 
not profess to be a literal translation of the original 
manuscript. . . ." 

I should have thought that when Gordon was 
being attacked the original manuscript might have 
been treated a little differently. Of course it is 
easily understandable that when a Syrian, with 
Arabic for his mother tongue, translates from 
one difficult language which he has picked up into 
another equally difficult, and translates roughly too, 
when moreover this rough translation is handled in 
the manner admitted, errors may have crept in or 
been passed unnoticed, whilst salient points were lost 
sight of. It is also quite possible that the peculiar 
idioms of the Arabic, German, and English languages 



303 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



got into a hopeless tangle, and were left so. What- 
ever the cause, there is no gainsaying the fact that 
Father Ohrwalder is credited with the expression of 
opinions which he, as a priest and missionary, ought 
to be one of the last on this earth to give utterance 
to. That he did not appreciate to the full the real 
import of the opinions he is credited with, I feel 
certain of after my long interview with him, when, 
with the Bible in one hand and a copy of " Ten 
Years' Captivity" in the other, we compared the 
opinions expressed in the latter with the teachings of 
Christ in the former. 

Father Ohrwalder may or may not have been ill- 
advised in omitting or suppressing the relation of 
well-known incidents, which accounted for Gordon's 
attitude in certain cases. It was only by omitting to 
mention these incidents that the criticisms on Gordon 
were rendered possible, or I should say that, had those 
incidents been included, the criticisms would not have 
lived a day. It would have been far better to tell 
everything to the generous and sympathetic world 
which he and Slatin met when they escaped, and to 
leave it to condone, if any condoning was called for, 
and to sympathize with them in the parts force of cir- 
cumstances compelled them to act, which must have 
been so repugnant to them ; for to omit, when criti- 
cizing Gordon, the relation of the very acts which 
compelled him also by force of circumstances to act 
as he did, was, to say the least of it, very unwise. 

In "Ten Years' Captivity" the reader is led into a 
maze of opinions, and left there. Once inside, you 



HOW GORDON DIED 



309 



discover that you can neither gain the centre of the 
maze or return to the starting-point ; you must either 
wander round for an eternity, or do as I shall do, cut 
your way through the hedges planted to bewilder 
you, and thank Heaven when on the outside that 
you are clear of the tortuous passages. Compare, for 
instance — 

" He (Cudzi) added that Gordon should have no anxiety about 
Berber as long as Hussein Pasha Khaleefa was Mudir," 

with, 

" Gordon himself committed a mistake by which he gave a death- 
blow to himself and his mission. On his way to Khartoum, he 
stopped at Berber, and interviewed the Mudir Hussein Pasha 
Khaleefa ; he imprudently told him that he had come up to remove 
the Egyptian garrisons, as Egypt had abandoned the Soudan." 

Gordon cannot be blamed for confirming, as 
Governor-General of the Soudan, the news telegraphed 
to his subordinate, the Mudir of Berber, throitgh whose 
hands the retiring garrisons must pass, nor can he 
be blamed if, when his suspicions were aroused, he 
deferred to the opinion of the man who was acting 
British Consul, Government representative, and his 
own agent, when he wrote and telegraphed as he did, 
" Trust in Hussein Pasha." 

" The catastrophe which had overtaken Hicks filled the inhabitants 
of Khartoum with indescribable dismay. Several of them returned 
to Egypt, and the members of the Austrian Mission, with their blacks, 
quitted Khartoum on the nth December, 1883." 

I therefore take it for granted that Father 
Ohrwalder's fellow-workers saw that all was hopeless 



A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



two months before Gordons name had been suggested to 
the Egyptian Government, yet, in the face of this, we 
are first asked — 

"What could Gordon do alone against the now universally- 
worshipped Mahdi?" 

and then told — 

" General Gordon's arrival in Khartoum gave fresh life and hope 
to the inhabitants." 

Then, 

"As it appeared to us in Kordofan, and to the Mahdi himself, 
Gordon's undertaking was very strange; it was just as if a man 
were attempting to put out an enormous fire with a drop of water," 

and, 

" I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that had the Egyptian 
Government not sent Gordon, then undoubtedly the evacuation 
originally ordered could have been carried out without difficulty." 

One is simply staggered by such an assertion. 
When Gordon arrived in Khartoum, the whole of the 
western Soudan had fallen. The town was overrun 
with the mourning women and children — the widows 
and orphans, I should say — of the troops who, under 
Hicks Pasha, had been annihilated a few months 
before on their way to extricate the garrisons. Slatin 
had surrendered Dara to Zoghal. Said Bey Gumaa, 
the last man to fight for the Government in the 
western Soudan, was compelled to capitulate very 
shortly before Gordon's arrival, and this only after a 
second siege when his men were dying with thirst. 



HOW GORDON DIED 



Bahr-el-Ghazal fell before Gordon had had time to 
turn round, and, for all that he or the Mahdi knew, 
the Equatorial province had fallen also. The town 
was hemmed in by the Mahdists, and the commanders 
of the garrisons which Gordon was expected to 
extricate were holding various commands in the 
dervish army, while Slatin had taken part already as 
a Mahdist in the subjugation of his subordinate, 
Said Bey Gumaa of El Fasher, who had refused to 
surrender. Am I not justified in. saying that only 
the suppression of such facts made possible such 
attacks upon Gordon ? 
We are next told— 

" Those who escaped massacre in Khartoum have often told me 
that they were perfectly ready to leave, and it was only Gordon's 
arrival that kept them back, but Gordon's arrival without troops had 
rather disappointed them. Had he been accompanied by five 
hundred British bayonets, his reputation in the Soudan might have 
been maintained, and probably the Mahdi would never have left 
Kordofan." 

Why did not those perfectly 4 ready to leave leave 
with the members of the Austrian mission, or leave 
between the date of their departure, December u, 
and the early days of February, when the news 
of Gordons mission first reached Khartoum ? Who 
prevented their leaving during that interval of at least 
two months from the moment when they were all 
thrown into "indescribable dismay" until they heard 
of Gordon's appointment ? And if, when he did arrive, 
they were so bitterly disappointed at his not being 
accompanied with five hundred British bayonets — 



312 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



much good these would have been against the " uni- 
versally worshipped Mahdi " in extricating those who 
had surrendered to him — why did they stay on ? Did 
not Gordon beg them to leave ? did he not try and 
compel them to do so ? did he not put boats at their 
disposal to sail north or south as best suited them ? 
And has not Gordon himself given the real reason for 
their staying on ? — though to this should be added 
their unbounded faith and confidence in Gordon. 

Gordon, I venture to believe, sustained his reputa- 
tion in the Soudan up to the end — up to the moment 
when, with the hand of Death on him, he fell facing 
his last assailant. True, he lost his reputation for 
telling the truth, but there are few men in this world 
whose telling of an untruth would startle and astonish 
a community. The people of Khartoum, their eyes 
dry and wearied with looking for a sign of the return- 
ing steamers which Gordon had sent off three months 
before to bring up the troops expected to arrive at 
the beginning of November, turned to each other, and, 
in an amazed whisper, said, " Gordon has told a lie," 
and were startled and afraid at their own words. 

Having dealt as tersely as possible with this curious 
collection of contradictions, I proceed to the quotation 
of and replies to the criticisms passed upon Gordon in 
the book I have already quoted from. 

1. " Looking back on the events of the siege of Khartoum, I can- 
not refrain from saying I consider Gordon carried his humanitarian 
views too far, and this excessive forbearance on his part added to 
his difficulties." 

2. "It was Gordon's first and paramount duty to rescue the 



HOW GORDON DIED 



3*3 



Europeans, Christians, and Egyptians, from the fanatical fury of the 
Mahdi, which was especially directed against them. This was 
Gordon's clear duty, but unfortunately he allowed his kindness of 
heart to be made use of to his enemy's advantage." 

3. "Thus, in his kindness of heart, did Gordon feed and support 
the families of his enemies. It was quite sufficient for a number of 
women to appeal to Gordon, with tears in their eyes, that they were 
starving for him to order that rations of corn should be at once 
issued to them, and thus it was that the supplies in the hands of the 
Government were enormously reduced." 

4. " Gordon should have recognized that the laws of humanity 
differ in war from peace time, more especially when the war he was 
waging was especially directed against wild fanatical savages, who 
were enemies to all peace." 

5. " He was entirely deceived if he believed that by the exercise 
of kindness and humanity he was likely to win over these people to 
his side ; on the contrary, they ridiculed his generosity, and only 
thought it a sign of weakness. The Soudanese respect and regard 
only those whom they fear, and surely those cruel and hypocritical 
Mahdists should have received very different treatment to civilized 
Europeans." 

6. " I also think that Gordon brought harm on himself and his 
cause by another action, which I am convinced led to a great extent 
to his final overthrow. Such men as Slatin, Lupton, Wad-el-Mek, 
and others, had offered, at the risk of their lives, to come and serve 
him. . . . Gordon would not, however, vouchsafe an answer to the 
letters of appeal these men wrote to him." 

In the first five extracts, Father Ohrwalder, from an 
initial mistake in forgetting or being unaware of the 
presence in Khartoum of the thousands of widows and 
orphans of the soldiers of Hicks' army, flounders on 
until, as I have said, he is credited with opinions which 
he should be the last to give utterance to. It is pass- 
ing strange that any missionary should place limits to 
the humanitarian views and forbearance of a military 
commander in time of war, who may invariably be 



/ 

314 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

depended upon to err on the wrong side from the 
biblical point of view. Gordon, in keeping in mind 
the Sermon on the Mount, and acting up to its pre- 
cepts as far as the exigencies of a state of war per- 
mitted, performed no act derogatory to him as a 
military commander. Gordon was no worse a 
Christian than he was a soldier — and the world never 
saw a better soldier. And whatever Gordon's para- 
mount duty may have been, it certainly was not his 
paramount duty to weaken his little garrison by send- 
ing an expedition into Kordofan to rescue, say, a dozen 
people who, as far as Gordon and every one else in 
Khartoum knew, had disavowed the Christian religion 
and adopted that of the Mahdi. 

There is another aspect to the case. Gordon's 
troops were Muslims. The " Christians " had adopted 
the "true faith" and become Muslims also. Why, 
then, should Muslim lives be sacrificed to " rescue " 
them from Islam and bring them back to Christianity ? 
And it must not be forgotten that Slatin, so far from 
denying his conversion, excused himself on the ground 
that his religious education had been neglected at 
home. Gordon is not to be blamed for having believed 
that the " Christians " had sincerely adopted Islam, for 
apart from the mere adoption of the religion, people 
sworn to celibacy and chastity had entered the matri- 
monial state, which was considered a further evidence 
of their conversion. While the gardener of the 
Khartoum Mission was bewailing the money he had 
sent to the " apostates," Consul Hansal wrote, asking 
that the matter be kept secret, to the Austrian Consul- 



HOW GORDON DIED 315 

General in Cairo, informing him of what had occurred. 
Had there been any " Christians " to rescue from the 
Mahdi, doubtless Gordon's paramount duty would 
have exhibited itself in some action. Nor is there 
any evidence that the Mahdi s " fanatical fury" was 
in any single instance especially directed against the 
" Christians," but there is a great deal of evidence to 
the contrary. With the exception of putting Slatin 
in chains, when he believed that he was playing him 
false, I know of no case of wanton cruelty practised 
by the Mahdi towards the " Christians," and I am 
not sure whether " clemency " would not be the proper 
word to use in Slatin's case, when it is remembered 
what happens to prisoners of war who break their 
parole, for Slatin and the others had sworn the oath 
of allegiance. 

Extract No. 3, apart from the extraordinary censure 
on Gordon for feeding the families of his enemies, and 
being moved to pity at the sight of the tears of 
starving women, calls for a more detailed reply to the 
criticism. Gordon, according to "Ten Years' Cap- 
tivity," ought to have turned these women out of the 
town to be at the tender mercies of the " wild fanatical 
savages " and been responsible for the rehearsal under 
his own eyes of the hunt for lust which followed on 
the fall of Khartoum. Father Ohrwalder can never 
have heard of England's proud roll of heroes who 
on land and sea have given their lives to save 
those of helpless women and children. In feeding 
these women — even had all been the wives of his 
enemies, which they were not — Gordon committed 



316 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 



no graver military crime than did the commander of 
the troops on board the Birkenhead, when, instead of 
seeing first to the safety of the soldiers for whose lives 
he was responsible, he placed the women and children 
in the boats which could have saved the troops, and 
called upon his men to present arms as the boats left 
the side of the ship — and to stand to attention as the 
vessel sank under them. So much for British principle, 
apart from Christ's teachings, in peace and war; now 
for the facts in Gordon's case. 

When Gordon arrived in Khartoum, he found 
wandering — hungry and helpless — the thousands of 
widows and orphans of the soldiers who a few months 
before constituted Hicks Pasha's army. Throughout 
his journals you will discover constant reference to the 
food question, with accounts of his successful search 
for the stolen biscuits, which had " enormously reduced " 
the supplies in the hands of the Government. Gordon 
had calculated that the relieving army would reach 
him at the beginning of November, so that we find 
him writing on the 2nd of that month that he has six 
weeks' food supplies. In making this estimate he 
was allowing for full rations to the troops (who were 
also in receipt of the money with which to buy those 
rations), and the wants of the poor. On the nth of 
that month he discovers nearly a million pounds of 
stolen biscuits. On the 21st he writes, "I do not 
believe one person has died of hunger during the 
months we have been shut up." On December 
14 — that is a month after the latest date he had 
estimated for the arrival of the relief expedition, he 



HOW GORDON DIED 



3i7 



says that unless the troops come in ten days the town 
may fall, and this because he had on November 12 
written, " Omdurman fort has one and a half months' 
supply of food and water." With the fall of this fort, 
he knew that the end would soon come. 

But up to this date the soldiers, who were not en- 
titled to rations since they received money for their 
purchase, were given full rations, and there is every 
reason to believe that the pinch only came when Om- 
durman fort fell on January 14 or 15, and the town 
was completely hemmed in. Food was short, no 
doubt, but, eight days before the fall of the town, 
Gordon could spare from the stores fifteen hundred 
pounds of biscuits to provision a boat for the Euro- 
peans. One should only be filled with amazement 
that Gordon held out so long after the date when he 
had expected relief, and it is not only ridiculous but 
monstrous to attack him, because he did not calculate 
that the expedition would only arrive seventy-eight 
instead of seventy-six days late, when we know for 
certain that his troops were receiving full rations which 
they were not entitled to for at least a month after 
the date of the expected arrival of the expedition. 

It is true that Gordon, seeing the food supplies 
giving out, recommended people to leave him and 
join the Mahdi, but this was only after more days had 
slipped away after the "ten days from December 14." 
He had then abandoned all hope, and saw that his 
prophecy was to come true — the expedition would 
arrive just "too late." In comparison with the 
number of widows whom Gordon had had to support 



318 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

for ten months, without the slightest assistance or aid 
from outside, the number of wives of his " enemies " in 
the Mahdi's camp was so insignificant as to be 
unworthy of notice. But even supposing that all the 
starving women who went to Gordon crying for the 
bread which Father Ohrwalder suggests should have 
been represented by a stone, were the wives of his 
enemies, his own writing justifies Gordon's feeding of 
them, for he says, " These crafty people thus assured 
themselves that, should the Mahdi be victorious, their 
loyalty to him would ensure the safety of their families 
and property in Khartoum, while, on the other hand, 
should Gordon be victorious, then their wives and 
families would be able to mediate for them with the 
conquerors." 

It is quite evident, then, that these people who 
went over to the Mahdi's camp did so, not from 
conviction of his divine mission, but to save the 
lives of their wives and families, whom by preference 
they entrusted to Gordon even at the last hour, and 
nearly a year after the date when his arrival without 
five hundred British bayonets is supposed to have 
ruined his reputation in the Soudan. I am inclined 
to think that the " craftiness " displayed by some in 
trying to secure their wives and daughters against 
violation and death, was no less justifiable than the 
" craftiness " displayed by others for an entirely 
different purpose. What a tribute these " crafty " 
people paid to Gordon ! I mean the crafty people 
who left Khartoum in January, 1885, and trusted 
Gordon with the lives of their wives and children. 



HOW GORDON DIED 



3i9 



In discussing this food question with Khartoum 
survivors, I laid particular stress upon the feeding of 
the women and children, and I can do no better than 
give the summing-up of it in the words of a native 
survivor, after I had translated to him the criticisms I 
am replying to — " What ! Would Gordon Pasha 
send away the hungry women and children of 
soldiers who had been killed fighting for the Govern- 
ment ?" 

I pass over extract No. 5 for the moment to refer to 
No. 6. The use of my portrait in advertising the 
book I am quoting from led most to believe that I 
approved of the criticisms it contained, and I have 
taken this opportunity of showing how thoroughly I 
disagree with them. To say that Slatin and others 
had offered, at the risk of their lives, to join Gordon 
is hardly correct, and if Gordon did not vouchsafe 
a written answer to the letters he received, he 
probably had good reason for not doing so, es- 
pecially as it appears likely that some of Said 
Bey Gumaa's letters addressed to the Governor- 
General before Gordon's appointment had succeeded 
in getting through to Khartoum, and from these 
and deserters from the Mahdi, Gordon must have 
learned all. 

Under pretence of intending to submit, Gumaa 
gained time, and tried to hurry up reinforcements, but 
this having been suspected, Zoghal ordered Slatin, 
Tandal, the President of the Civil Court, Aly Bey 
Ibrahim-el- Khabir, Slatin s head-clerk Ahmad Riad, 
and a few others, to send in an ultimatum to Gumaa, 



1 



320 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

and await his reply. The reply travelled quickly ; as 
soon as he read the letter, Gumaa opened fire upon the 
spot where Slatin and his companions were awaiting 
him. During the first siege of El Fasher, Gumaa 
must have accounted for at least fifteen thousand 
dervishes, and utterly defeated the army which retired 
to Walad Birra, from whence a party was sent off to 
Dara to bring up the ammunition which, as appears 
from Gordon's Journal, was handed over to the 
Mahdists by Slatin when he surrendered the province. 
This occupied eleven days, and then the second siege 
was laid. The wells were filled up, thus depriving 
the garrison of water ; but for seven or eight days 
they held out, dying of thirst, while the town was 
constantly bombarded with Government ammuni- 
tion. Said Bey Gumaa has always protested that 
had it not been for the ammunition handed over by 
Slatin to the Mahdists he could have held out — and 
more. 

The knowledge of these things must have influenced 
Gordon, especially when Slatin writes to him, through 
Consul Hansal, offering to place his services at his 
disposal, but only on condition that Gordon should 
guarantee never to surrender, for, if he did, Slatin 
would be maltreated by the Mahdists when they laid 
hands upon him. Gordon was the best judge as to 
the value of services offered under such conditions. 
For " moral and political reasons," Gordon considered 
it unadvisable to have anything whatever to do with 
what he called " apostate " Europeans in the Mahdi's 
camp, but appreciating the enormous responsibility 



HOW GORDON DIED 



321 



thrown upon his shoulders, he appealed to the Ulema 
for their advice, as these apostates were now 
their co-religionists, and they decided to have nothing 
whatever to do with their "proposals of treachery,' , 
as no good could come of it. Matters were made still 
worse by Slatin writing to Gordon asking him to be 
a party to proceedings very foreign indeed to Gordon's 
nature at all events. Slatin's request to Gordon was 
to write to him personally one letter in French, and 
another letter in Arabic, " asking him to obtain per- 
mission from his Master to come to Omdurman and 
discuss with him the conditions of his (Gordon's) sur- 
render," which letter he could use in order to obtain 
permission to come to Omdurman. If Gordon had 
written that Arabic letter. . . . 

If all these facts were not known to Father 
Ohrwalder before 1892, six years is quite long enough 
time to have learned them, and now I have no 
hesitation in saying that to assert that Gordon 
brought about his downfall by refusing the services 
of people willing to risk their lives in reaching him 
is, to put it charitably, pure fiction. 

Irrespective of the opinions expressed in the first 
four extracts given, extract No. 5 makes out a very 
good case for the Sirdar to write in large letters at the 
Soudan Frontier, " No Missionaries Admitted," for 
Father Ohrwalder proves conclusively that they can do 
no good. Honestly I believe that for many years to 
come the only religious teachers allowed to penetrate 
into the Soudan should be enlightened exponents of 
the Quoran. Consider that for sixteen years the 

Y 



322 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

Soudan has been in the throes — is still in the throes 
of one of the greatest religious upheavals known. 
While this revival of Islam has been in progress in 
the Soudan proper, the converts at Uganda and else- 
where have been snicking each others throats to 
evidence their zeal for the rival Christian creeds. In 
the Soudan, missionaries have openly avowed to 
thousands their acceptance of the " true faith " — 
Islam, the very religion from which they had gone out 
to convert the Blacks. I have not the slightest hesi- 
tation in saying myself that for some time to come 
religious revivalism in the Soudan will, if permitted to 
take place, very soon spell Rebellion. Time must 
be given for the bad (?) effect produced on the native 
mind by the conversion of the Soudan missionaries to 
die out, and goodness knows the poor country requires 
a rest. If missionaries must be sent, then let them 
be honest traders, the best missionaries for savage 
countries. When the Soudan has again been opened 
up, and the natives have become a little more civilized 
through their contact with trade, and so Europeanized 
that their simple faith, " There is one God, and He 
is God," is not sufficient for them, but they must 
needs snarl and fight over creeds, then and only then 
remove the " No Admittance " signboard. 

I trust that no religious body or society of earnest 
Christians will think from the foregoing that I am 
either sneering or scoffing at religion, or that their 
disinterested efforts to spread the gospel of peace to 
the remotest ends of the earth have not my sincerest 
sympathy. I have spoken plainly and to the point, 



HOW GORDON DIED 



323 



for I consider that the occasion calls for it. The 
missionaries required in the Soudan now are clean- 
minded, honest traders, who will do more for you by 
a few years' preparing the ground for "talking" 
missionaries than the missionaries can do in a score 
of years of preaching. It is men like Gordon who, 
though not preaching religion, yet practise it in 
their every act, whom the Soudan requires. Ask any 
one in the Soudan what is his opinion about Gordon, 
and he will reply, " Gordon was not a Christian ; he 
was a true Muslim ; no Christian could be so good 
and just as he was," and I believe that this saying, 
or estimate of him, emanated from the Mahdi himself. 
I draw your particular attention to the word "just," 
which proves that, in the eyes of the Mahdists and 
Soudanese alike, his justice ranked with his goodness. 
If any Soudanese or Mahdist ridiculed to Father 
Ohrwalder Gordon's generosity, and considered it a 
sign of weakness, it must have been done for a purpose. 
During my twelve years amongst all shades of people 
of the Soudan, I never heard a single word against 
Gordon, nor did I hear one until I came amongst his 
own flesh and blood. I cannot do better than relate 
another example of the esteem he was held in, and this 
example is from a Christian source. 

My friend Nahoum Abbajee, when he reached Cairo, 
prepared a petition which he had intended forwarding 
to her Majesty the Queen, asking that the British 
Government should restore part of the fortune accumu- 
lated by him during his twenty-three years' residence 
in the Soudan. His argument was that, trusting to 



3 2 4 A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA 

Gordon, he had delayed in Khartoum until Stewart's 
departure was arranged for, when, acting on the advice 
of Gordon, he sold off his goods, realizing but half their 
value, accepted Gordon Bonds in payment, bought a 
boat, as no one then would hire one out, set off with 
Stewart, and was captured by the dervishes. This 
would not have happened, had not the commander of 
the gunboat disobeyed Gordon's orders by steaming 
off to Khartoum, instead of bombarding Berber for 
three days, and Gordon was consequently responsible 
for the delinquencies of his subordinate. 

On being asked what his personal impressions of 
Gordon were, he said that his thoughtfulness for every 
one, his goodness, justice, and innumerable virtues 
would take years to relate ; and then when he was told 
that his claim could only be sustained on his proving 
that Gordon was to blame for the loss of Stewart's 
party, ill as he was, he rose from his couch, tore up the 
petition, and, with his hand raised, prayed Heaven that 
if the bit of bread to save him from starvation should 
be purchased with money obtained through laying a 
fault upon Gordon, it might choke him. One had 
to witness the scene really to appreciate it. Ruined, 
broken down in health, too old to make a new start 
in life, his eyes lost their dulness and glistened as 
he breathed his prayer and fell back on his couch 
exhausted with the effort. Nahoum, I am afraid, will 
have joined Gordon by the time this appears in 
print. 



HASSAN BEY HASSANEIN. 



APPENDICES 



Appendix I 

HASSAN BEY HASSANEIN 

When Gordon heard of the murder of Colonel Stewart and 
his companions, he held a sort of court-martial on himself, 
and, after reviewing all the arrangements which he had made 
for their safety, he came to the conclusion that Stewart must 
have been invited on shore and murdered. Then, as if endowed 
with second sight, he almost exactly described what actually 
happened. The Abbas, drawing less than two feet of water, 
ought not to have stranded, as it was High Nile. Treachery 
on the part of the crew he had guarded against by sending 
a bodyguard of highly paid Greeks. The cutting adrift of 
their boats just after passing Berber contributed to the 
catastrophe, for had they been with the steamer at the 
time she struck, it is hardly likely that the inhabitants of 
the village would have planned the treachery they did. As 
interpreter to the party, Gordon gave them the man he could 
least spare, and one in whom he had every confidence — 
Hassan Bey Hassanein. Gordon himself writes, "thus the 
question of treachery was duly weighed by me and guarded 
against," yet, in " Ten Years' Captivity," we find the contrary 
stated. " It is said that the interpreter, Hassan, arranged the 
betrayal." Moreover, to clinch the matter, and to show that 
Gordon had selected a traitor in the very man whom the 



326 



APPENDICES 



lives of the party might depend upon, it is added, "And I 
was afterwards told that, when he got into difficulties later, 
he sent a petition to Mohammad-el-Kheir, in which he said 
that he was entitled to reward for having secured Colonel 
Stewart's death. He is still living in Omdurman." 

Hassan Bey Hassanein has lived to come back to Egypt 
and bear witness to the goodness and virtues of the heroic 
defender of Khartoum. The only bit of treachery Hassan 
Bey acknowledges is that — with his fellow-clerk, Sirri — he 
cut the Khaleefa's telegraph and telephone communications 
as the troops were advancing, to prevent communication 
between Omdurman and Khartoum and the outpost at 
Khor Shambat. It was Hassan Bey who ran out of the 
telegraph-hut as the gunboats advanced and attempted to get 
on board in order to warn them of the mines. He succeeded 
in attracting attention, and barely got off with his life, for his 
shouts in English were drowned by the report of the rifles as 
the men " potted " at his dervish dress. 

Hassan Bey Hassanein, speaking English, French, and 
Arabic, was sent to Khartoum in July, 1883, for telegraphic 
work. When Gordon arrived, in 1884, he wrote an official 
letter detailing him for his special service. Orders were 
given that he was to have access to him at all hours of the 
day and night. It was Hassan Bey who used to mark the 
words Gordon required to use at a forthcoming interview, in 
his Arabic dictionary. Before giving his version of the 
murder of Stewart's party, a few words concerning him and 
his relations with Gordon will prove that, in selecting him 
as interpreter to the party, Gordon "well-guarded against 
treachery." 

One of Hassan Bey's first missions after the arrival of 
Gordon was to seek out the widow of Bussati Bey ; for, on 
arrival at Berber, he had telegraphed to Bussati Bey, not 
knowing that he had been killed with Hicks. Having found 
the widow and her children in dire straits, he returned with 
one of the children to Gordon, and then took the child back 
carrying a handkerchief containing a hundred pounds. " Bis 



APPENDIX I 



327 



dat qui cito dat " was certainly Gordon's motto in Khartoum, 
from the hundreds of tales which I have heard. On handing the 
money to the widow, she brought out her husband's uniform 
and sword, and, handing them to Hassan Bey, said, " As you 
take the place of my husband at Gordon's side, then take 
his sword and uniform." Hassan Bey took it to Gordon, who 
asked what it was worth, and being told " perhaps ten pounds," 
sent twenty pounds to the widow to make sure, and told Hassan 
Bey to keep the uniform, as it might yet come in useful. 

Later on, when Hassan Bey, who was then but " effendi," 
had had a particularly hard spell of night and day work, 
Gordon asked him which he would prefer — an increase of pay 
or a rank. Hassan Bey left the matter to Gordon, and he 
gave him both, writing the " firman " himself. On the 
Friday following, Hassan Bey presented himself to Gordon 
in Bussati's uniform — for uniform was worn on Fridays and 
feast days. Gordon was evidently much amused at his in- 
terpreter and telegraph-clerk appearing in the uniform of a 
lieut.-colonel, although the rank he had bestowed upon him 
was nothing more nor less. Telling Hassan Bey that such a 
uniform did not look well without a decoration, he pinned on 
to his right breast one of the decorations he had had struck 
to commemorate the siege of Khartoum, and Hassanein 
walked off a proud man to delight the eyes of his wife, then 
nearing her confinement. Fifteen days before the departure 
of the Abbas, he presented himself to Gordon, and told him 
that he was the father of a boy. " No, I am the father," 
replied Gordon, and, knowing Hassan Bey's house, he hurried 
off at a quick walk, which Hassan Bey had to run to keep up 
with. Pushing his way through the women assembled in the 
outer room, he tapped gently on the door where mother and 
child were lying, and asked, " Mary, tyeeb-tyeeb ? " (" Is all 
well ? ") and then, as the child's " father," he insisted upon 
entering, took the child in his arms, crooned to it, kissed it, 
and then hurried off and wrote a note to the Finance Office 
to pay a hundred pounds from his salary "to his boy." 
Mother and child were to meet with a tragic death. 



328 



APPENDICES 



Two days before the departure of the Abbas, Gordon told 
Hassan Bey that he had selected him to accompany Colonel 
Stewart as interpreter. He was to accompany the party as 
far as Dongola, at all events, but there was the possibility of 
Stewart requiring him as far as Cairo, therefore his wife 
collected a number of presents for her relatives in Cairo, 
which Hassan Bey was to present in uniform and decorations, 
so that all should understand how highly she had married. 
I must now, having given an idea of the relations existing 
between Gordon and the man who " betrayed " Colonel 
Stewart, and who had left with Gordon his wife and fifteen- 
day-old boy, give his account of what actually occurred. I 
purposely leave out all the incidents of the voyage until the 
boats reach the island opposite the village of El Salamanieh. 

A discussion arose between the two Reises (pilots) as the 
island was neared, as to what course to take ; the river 
was running strong, and between the island and mainland 
resembled a mill race. One reis contended for the left bank 
and the other for the right. Stewart, who spoke Turkish and 
Arabic, asked what was the matter, and decided that judgment 
was to rest with the oldest of the reises, and he selected the 
right bank. Instead of coming through the race stern first, 
it was decided to put on full steam and " shoot " what might 
be called the rapids. While the decision was being given, 
the steamer had come end on with the island, and when full 
steam ahead was signalled, she steamed ahead at an angle of 
about seventy-five degrees to the southern spit, and before 
reaching the race proper, struck — swung round, and struck 
again. Colonel Stewart took down his revolver, and threatened 
to shoot both reises, upon which they dived overboard and 
swam to the right bank of the Nile, but thirty or forty yards 
distant. Colonel Stewart did not fire at them as they swam 
off. This occurred about an hour before mid-day. 

About an hour later, the two reises — Mohammad el Dongo- 
lawi and Ali el Bishtili — returned to the vessel, said they had 
spoken to the people of the village, who had declared they 
acknowledged the authority of Mustapha Pasha Yawer, the 



APPENDIX I 



329 



Mudir of Dongola ; they at the same time begged that 
Stewart would not molest them in any way, and they would 
provide camels to take the whole party to Dongola. Colonel 
Stewart spiked the cannon, and threw it overboard along 
with the ammunition. He then ordered Hassan Bey, with 
one of Gordon's cavasses, and the clerk Mahmoud Ghorab, 
to go on shore and interview the people. At first they 
demurred, as, being Egyptians, they felt sure they would be 
murdered, and asked that the small boat should be sent as 
far as a village near Derawi, where it was certain " friends " 
would be met with. Colonel Stewart, after first threatening 
to throw them into the river, took his revolver again and 
threatened to shoot all three if they did not obey instantly. 
They obeyed, and went on shore to meet the men awaiting 
them — a blind man named Osman, and two men of the 
Wadi Kamr tribe. On reaching the reception-room of the 
Sheikh-el-Belad (headman of the village), a copy of the Quoran 
was produced, and upon this Osman and his companions 
swore loyalty to the Government. Osman remained behind 
while the other two accompanied Hassan Bey and the others 
to the island where Stewart's party had then landed. Here 
again the oath of allegiance to the Government was taken, 
and the men left, promising to send for camels to be ready 
on the following morning. 

At about ten o'clock the next day they returned, and 
suggested that all should come to the right bank and pack 
up their effects, to be ready for the camels when they 
arrived. About two hours after mid-day, while all were 
either seated on the bank or fastening up their effects, 
a man came, said that the Sheikh-el-Belad had arrived, 
and invited the "Pasha" and the Consuls to his house. 
Colonel Stewart ordered Hassan Bey to accompany him as 
interpreter. On reaching the reception-room, they found 
about forty or fifty people assembled to receive them. 
The Sheikh-el-Belad was seated in the centre of the room on 
the left. Two angareebs were placed at each side of the 
doorway : Stewart and Power seated themselves on the 



33° 



APPENDICES 



angareeb on the right, and Hassan Bey and Herbin on 
the angareeb to the left. Some minutes were taken up in 
the usual salutations, and before they had time to speak 
about the journey, the natives rose, and, saying the camels 
were approaching, left the room, only to rush back a few 
minutes later shouting, "Salaamoo tisslaamoo ya kaffarah" 
(" Become Muslims, you infidels, and you will be spared ") ; 
but at the same moment Herbin had his head smashed in 
with an axe, and Hassan Bey was stabbed in the right arm 
with a crease knife, and, as he was falling, received a large 
spear wound in the left leg. He fell unconscious, and did 
not see how Stewart and Power were killed. While the 
bodies were being dragged out of the room, some time after 
sunset, Hassan Bey was found to be still alive ; it was 
proposed to kill him, but the brother of the Sheikh- 
el-Belad, he heard afterwards, pleaded for him, as his 
"stomach felt sick." 

After the murder of Stewart and the others, the party 
made their way to the river, and a long fight ensued between 
them and the crew of the vessel, the latter being killed 
to a man. Hassan Bey was given some engine-oil from the 
steamer with which to dress his wounds, and, when he 
recovered, was sent to attend the flocks of the tribe. About 
fifty to sixty days later, he was sent to Berber on the 
orders of Mohammad-el-Kheir, and there imprisoned for four 
months, and, on the death of the Mahdi, was, with other 
prisoners, sent to Omdurman, to take the oath of allegiance 
to Khaleefa Abdullahi. 

In 1889-90 he was sent to Kassala, and, on the breaking 
out of the famine, he, with his wife and child, and many others, 
made up a party to return to Omdurman. Hassan Bey's group 
consisted of his family, a man named Ismail, with his wife 
and daughter, and a man with two women. They ran short 
of water, and, leaving the others, who were worn out, to rest 
under some shrubs, Hassan Bey and Ismail set off in search 
of water. In about four hours' time they reached some pools 
near the Atbara, and filling their water-skins, set off to rejoin 



APPENDIX I 



33' 



their families. On reaching the spot, they found that they had 
been devoured by lions ; the heads of Hassan's wife and boy 
— then between six and seven years of age — and the heads of 
Ismail's wife and daughter were all that remained. No trace 
was left of the heads of the man and the other two women, and 
it is surmised that they must have escaped, for the lion never 
eats the head of its victim. Half mad, the two wandered on, 
living on roots and leaves, until, on reaching the village of 
El-Mughetta, on the banks of the Atbara, they were taken 
prisoners and made slaves. Ismail had to work at the ferry, 
but Hassan Bey, being weak and ill, was allowed to wander 
about until, meeting with a caravan bound for Geddaref, 
he joined it, and then made his way to Omdurman, being 
employed, first, as clerk under Abdallah Sulieman, the head 
of the cartridge-factory, and then transferred to the telegraph 
service. 



Appendix II 



ORPHALI 

THE account which I have given of how Gordon died differs 
so very little in essentials from the account which I have since 
received from Khaleel Agha Orphali, and which has been read 
to Khartoum survivors with the idea of comparing the state- 
ments made with what was related at the time, that I think it 
advisable to allow my account to stand, and to append that 
of Orphali, giving a few details concerning Orphali himself. 
I might mention that Gordon was credited with having killed 
a much greater number of dervishes than I have given, but 
the error arose from his being credited with the killing of 
the dervishes on the " Gouvernorat " (E) staircase ; but these 
were killed by the guards. The fact of his having killed so 
many as he did, is to be accounted for in two ways ; first, the 
people who first assailed him on the private staircase were 
unaccustomed to the use of the small spears they carried — 
indeed, it is safe to say that they had only been dervishes 
outwardly for half an hour or so ; and, secondly, as they were 
packed on a narrow staircase, every shot told on the mass. 
To assist the reader in following Orphali's narrative, I have 
drawn from memory a rough plan of the palace as I remem- 
bered it while it stood intact, and, with the assistance of 
Fauzi Pasha and others, have been able to name each of 
the rooms. 

Khaleel Agha Orphali joined the army for service in the 
Soudan in the Coptic year 1591 (1873-74). After taking part 
in a number of engagements, he was promoted to the rank 
of Bulok Bashi (commander of twenty-five men), and when 



APPENDIX II 



333 



Gordon reached Kulkul, in 1878-79, Orphali and his men had 
been without pay for months. They presented themselves to 
Gordon and clamoured for their pay ; he recommended them 
to go to Khartoum for it, upon which they became abusive, 
and Gordon drew his revolver. Orphali followed suit, but 
neither fired. Gordon quietly ordered the cavasses to remove 
their chief in custody, which they did. Shortly afterwards, 
Gordon sent for Orphali, told him he was a " man," gave him 
a present of money, and offered him the post of cavass to 
himself, which Orphali at once accepted, accompanying 
Gordon to Khartoum, and remaining with him until he left. 

On Gordon's return, in 1884, he found Orphali then in 
Khartoum, and made him his chief cavass. Orphali is one 
of those men who know but one master, and believe that 
master to be the ruler of the universe. He, therefore, was no 
great favourite with some in the administration, as, during the 
siege, he was never away from Gordon's side, and his cavasses 
were allowed to do nothing but keep their arms clean, and be 
ready to surround Gordon in case of trouble. They were 
strictly forbidden to leave their posts to carry coffee, bread, 
run messages, or perform all the other little services which 
they had been accustomed to perform for the katibs (clerks). 
Orphali's ideas as to the duty of his cavasses were the cause 
of constant bickerings, which came to a climax about twenty 
days before the fall of Khartoum, when he espied one of 
them carrying an ink-bottle behind Geriagis Bey — the head- 
clerk, who succeeded Rouchdi Bey. This was too much 
for Orphali. Grasping the brass inkstand, he drove it with 
all his force against Geriagis' chest, and this assault Gordon 
could not pass over. Orphali was in disgrace for eight days, 
and " confined to barracks," that is to say, the palace precincts, 
but he slept at Gordon's door as usual. Twelve days before 
the fall, he was re-instated in favour, and never again left 
Gordon's side for a moment. 

Orphali — as Gordon is not alive to speak for him, and as so 
many knew from Gordon himself of his threat to shoot him 
many years before — has been afraid, since his return, to talk 



334 



APPENDICES 



about his relations with Gordon, and was not a little surprised 
when I assured him that, if he appeared in " Londra," he need 
have nothing to be afraid of from the English people. 
Having introduced the man, I now give his description of the 
night of the 25th January, keeping as much as possible to his 
own words, and only, to give a complete account, mentioning 
the incidents occurring in other parts of the palace while 
Gordon and he fought the upper floor : — 

His excellency was not an early sleeper, and on the night 
the dervishes entered Khartoum he was in his room. At 
eight o'clock, Consul Hansall, Consul Leontides and the 
Doctor, Abou Naddara (he of the spectacles), came to see 
him, and remained until midnight. After their departure, he 
did not go to sleep, but sat reading and writing letters, and 
sometimes pacing the room. At one o'clock in the morning, 
he sent me to the telegraph-office to inquire about the 
enemy's movements, as he had received confirmed news of 
the intended attack, and his excellency had issued general 
orders to the soldiers and employes to be on guard to attack 
and withstand the dervishes. Ali Effendi Riza, Mohammad 
EfTendi Fauzi, and Youssef Effendi Esmatt were on duty, also 
the messenger Mohammad Omar. They reported all was 
quiet, and this news I gave his excellency. Half an hour 
later, perhaps, firing was heard from the land side {i.e. to the 
south) ; I was sent to seek information. Bakhit Bey, from 
Buri, telegraphed that a few dervishes had attacked, but had 
been driven off, and when I told his excellency, he prepared 
to sleep, and gave me the customary order to bolt his door, 
and this I did. Then I closed the door of the terrace (I, plan), 
then the door of the Gouvernorat (H), near Rouchdi Bey's room, 
and returning along the corridor leading to the private apart- 
ments, closed the door in the middle (B), and then went down 
the private staircase (D), gave the usual orders to the guards, 
and returned to my sleeping place opposite the pasha's room 
(K), after I had told the telegraph-clerks to bring information 
as soon as any news came from the lines. About three 
o'clock, Mohammad Omar, the messenger, with Cavass Ali 



(Palace rsght on b&nk) BLUE NILE. 



c z 
3 o 






-IMIIIIII" 






=iiiiinir| 


D. 














GDARDS 











PUBLIC ENTRANCE. 



CAVASS 


. „. . . 


GDA*D 


STOKES 


N / 
>N / 














1 VINE^TEELUS | 
- - * A . - 


KITCHEN 



- Dekushks 



GROUND FLOOR PLAN. 



TowxspiiOPte 



I 1 %°z (£) {C B 3 C<0>""C H ) 



(O 



UPPER FLOOR PLAN 



03 



A Corridor 
B Door 
C Corridor 

D SrtPS (Stone) tee Ground Plan. 
E Staircase (Wood) see Ground Flan. 
F &. G Flat Roof over Rooms of Ground Flour 

H Door near Rauchdi's Room, 
I & J Door to Terrace (Roof) 

K Lasoinc, on top op Stairs orposiip. Gordons 
Room 



PLANS OF PALACE AT KHARTOUM ILLUSTRATING THE DEATH OF GORDON'. 



APPENDIX II 



335 



Agha Gadri, roused me and said that an attack was being 
made at Kabakat (boats) on the White Nile. I informed the 
Pasha, who told me to run to the telegraph-office for more 
news, and there I met Hassan Bey Bahnassawi, who was on 
duty, and we heard that an attack had been made, but had 
been repulsed.* On informing the Pasha, he told me to close 
the door of his room again, which I did, and sat down to 
make coffee. Then we heard more firing from the White 
Nile, and the cavasses, having run to the terrace, called to 
me that the dervishes were coming into the town. I ran 
down to Buluk Bashi Ibrahim El Nahass, who had twenty- 
four men ; fifteen we placed at the windows (rooms on right 
ground-plan), and nine on the terrace overlooking the garden 
(G). There were also twenty-four cavasses and ferrashes ; 
thirteen were placed at the windows (left of ground-plan) 
under my second, Niman Agha, eight on the terrace (F), and 
three at the door of the palace (B). Each man had ten dozen 
cartridges, besides which, each party had a spare case of 
ammunition. All these arrangements did not take five 
minutes, as each knew his place. I then ran up to the 
Governor-General's room, and informed him of the arrange- 
ments. The day had now come (dawned). The dervishes 
who ran to the front of the palace were killed by the fire 
from the steamer. About seventy were killed in the garden 
by the soldiers firing on them from the terrace, and then we 
saw the dervishes coming over the rukooba (vine-trellis A), 
and they were met with the fire from the windows and terraces. 
They came in great numbers very quickly. Some ran to the 
entrance (B), killed the guards and opened the door ; then 
they all ran to the Gouvernorat door and killed the telegraph- 
clerks, all except Esmatt, who hid among the sacks in the store- 
room ; they then went to the terrace (G) and killed the soldiers, 
and Nahass, seeing the massacre, jumped from the window. 
Four men were on guard at the private stairs, but when the 

* This is a literal translation. What Orphali intends to convey is, that on telegraphing to the 
lines, Bahnassawi Bey, who was on duty, was at his post, and replied to the inquiries sent by 
telegraph. The distance between the palace and Bahnassawi's post was about two and a half 
miles. 



f 

336 APPENDICES 

dervishes came back from the Gouvernorat door (E) they 
were soon killed, and some of the dervishes ran to the terrace 
(F), and killed the soldiers there ; others came up the steps 
to the private apartment, and broke the door ; Gordon Pasha 
met them with his sword in his right hand and his pistol 
(revolver) in his left, and killed of them two who fell at the 
door, and one who fell down the stairs,* and the others ran 
away. Then we heard the dervishes breaking the private 
door (B), while the Pasha was loading his revolver. I went 
forward and received a little wound in the face, and when the 
Pasha came, he received a wound in the left shoulder ; the 
man who wounded him was a half-blood slave. We followed 
them to Rouchdi Bey's room, killing three and wounding 
many, and the others ran away and fell down the stairs. We 
went back to the Pasha's room and reloaded, but the 
dervishes came back, and I received a slight wound in my 
right leg from a sword, but I warded the blow, and the cut 
was nothing. We attacked the dervishes on the private 
stairs (D), and while we were passing the door a native of 
Khartoum, dressed as a dervish, stabbed the Pasha with a 
spear on the left shoulder ; seeing this man's hand coming 
from behind the door, I cut at it, and he ran and fell on a 
spear held by one of his companions on the steps, and was 
killed. At this time more dervishes were coming along the 
corridor (from H), and we returned to meet them ; I received 
a thrust in the left hand, but the Pasha cut the man down 
with his sword, and kicked him on the head and he died ; 
then the dervishes ran into the clerks' offices (5, 6, 7, upper- 
floor plan), and while we were standing in the corridor, a tall 
negro fired a shot from the door (H) near Rouchdi Bey's 
room, and the bullet struck the Pasha in the right breast, and 
the Pasha ran up and shot the man dead. The dervishes 
then came out of the offices, and we turned, and they ran to 
the private stairs, and we fired into them, but the Pasha was 
getting weak from loss of blood. We fought these dervishes 
down the stairs till we reached the last one, and a native of 

* That is to say, fell dead or wounded. 



APPENDIX II 



337 



Katimeh speared the Pasha in the right hip, but I shot him, 
and the Pasha fell down on the cavasses' mat at the door, and 
he was dead, and as I turned to seek refuge in the finance- 
office (F plan), I was struck down and lost my senses, and I 
was lying down with the dead. In the afternoon, a man of 
El Katimeh — Abd-el-Rahman, whom I knew, helped me to 
go to the river for water, and I saw the body of the Pasha at 
the door (D), but the head was not there. I was helped to 
my house, and found my wife and children and property all 
missing. ... I was taken by a friend and Abd-el-Rahman to 
El Dem-el-Darawish, and left on the plain all night, and in 
the morning I was taken before Wad en Nejoumi . . . and I was 
stripped to see if I had any money and papers, but I had not ; 
and when I said that I was ignorant of any treasure, I was 
heavily beaten, though much wounded, and was very ill for 
seventeen days, and my wife found me. 

All who were taken to see the steps where Gordon fell 
remarked upon the number and extent of the blood stains, 
for they could not believe that all had come from one body. 
These stains were shown to me in 1887. It has been stated 
on good authority that "Stains of blood marked the spot 
where this atrocity took place, and the steps from top to 
bottom for weeks bore the same sad traces." Here is what I 
choose to consider not only a confirmation of Gordon having 
died fighting, but a confirmation of Orphali's narrative, for 
there were only two people on the upper floor — Gordon and 
Orphali, and all the fighting must have been done by them. 
It is quite impossible that the steps " from top to bottom " — 
four flights — could have been stained as they were stained 
with large patches of blood left by a body which had been 
dragged downstairs some time after death. The steps were 
stained with the blood of the dervishes through whom I 
have said Gordon shot and hacked his way in his heroic 
attempt to reach his troops. 



z 



Appendix III 



TRANSLATION of the letter which the Khaleefa dictated in 
reply to the letter given me by General Stephenson, in Cairo, 
before leaving for Kordofan. 

" In the name of God the Most Merciful, and thanks to God the 
Omnipotent and Generous, with prayers on Mohammad our Lord 
and his descendants ; Greeting. 

"From the servant of his Lord Abdallah-el-Muslimani-el-Brussi 
(the Prussian), formerly named Karl Neufeld, to Stephenson the 
Englishman, at Cairo. 

" We have to inform you that, in conformity with your letter, dated 
March i, 1887, addressed to us, and recommending us to Sheikh 
Saleh Fadlallah-el-Kabashi with regard to your projects, 

" We started from Haifa, with his men bearing the arms and 
ammunition and other things sent him by the Government. 

" We proceeded on our course, and were constantly on guard on 
ourselves and our property, until we arrived at a well called Selima, 
from where we took the water supply, and continued our way to our 
destination. 

" It was our fate to be met in the desert by six fakirs, followers of 
the Mahdi, who attacked us, so that we and Saleh's men had to 
defend ourselves, our number beingfifty f ve men. 

" The six fakirs were later reinforced by others, all of them being 
men of Abd-el-Rahman en Nejoumi. Thus there remained for us 
no way of escape, and in the space of half an hour we were defeated, 
many being killed, and the rest taken prisoners. The rifles, ammu- 
nition, and things destined for Saleh were seized, and I, my servant 
Elias, and my slave-girl, Hasseena, were among the prisoners, and 



APPENDIX III 



339 



we were thus conducted to Abd-el-Rahman en Nejoumi, to Ordeh 
or Dongola. 

" From this place we were sent to the Khaleefa of the Mahdi, on 
whom be peace, at Omdurman, to whom we were presented. We 
were certain that we were to be killed, taking into consideration our 
great crime against him. 

" The Khaleefa of the Mahdi, on whom be peace, however, pitied 
our condition, and proposed to us to avow the Mohammedan faith. 
We accepted, and became Muslims by pronouncing the two declara- 
tions in his presence, and by publicly professing that there is no God 
but God, and that Mohammad is the Prophet of God, and I then 
added that I believed in God and his Prophet Mohammad, and in 
the Khaleefa of the Mahdi. We then asked him for his clemency 
and pardon, which was granted. He thereupon embraced me, and 
named me Abdallah. I was then accepted of the Mohammedan 
religion. 

" It was on these conditions that the Khaleefa of the Mahdi, on 
whom be peace, pardoned me and spared my life, which was already 
forfeited. 

" This was done to the honour and glory of the Mohammedan 
religion. 

"We further inform you that although Dufa' Allah Hogal deceived 
us, notwithstanding his perfidy, we cannot sufficiently thank and 
reward him, as his treachery turned to our great benefit, and he has 
allowed us to enjoy great prosperity. 

" Finally, we inform you confidentially that Saleh Fadlallah Salem 
has lost all his power and influence, and has taken refuge in the 
desert. This is the truth. I write this for your advice. 

" The 17th Shaaban, 1304." 



Appendix IV 



IBRAHIM PASHA FAUZI-GORDON'S 
FAVOURITE OFFICER 

WHEN Gordon arrived in Khartoum, in 1874, Ibrahim Pasha 
Fauzi was then a second-lieutenant. Gordon had applied 
to the then Governor-General of the Soudan, Ismail Pasha 
Ayoub, for four companies of soldiers to accompany him to 
the Equatorial Provinces. Ayoub was not at all pleased at 
Gordon's mission, as he took it as a slight upon his adminis- 
tration, so that when Gordon's application for troops was 
received, Ayoub selected for the purpose his most worthless 
men, with the double object of getting rid of them, and 
making Gordon's mission a failure. Fauzi, anxious to see 
some service, had volunteered to accompany Gordon, and, for 
doing so, Ayoub placed him under arrest. Gordon, hearing 
of the matter, sent to Ayoub demanding that the officer who 
had volunteered his services should be sent to him imme- 
diately. Fauzi was sent to Gordon's head-quarters, when 
Gordon first asked him, " Are you the officer who volunteered 
your services ? " following up the question, when Fauzi in reply 
said, " Yes, sir," the only two words he then knew of English, 
by asking why he had done so. On learning that Fauzi 
wished to see service, he promised that, his wish should be 
gratified. " But," added Gordon, " I wish you to answer me 
as an officer — why did the Governor place you under 
arrest?" Fauzi gave the reason — Ayoub was afraid that 




FAUZI PASHA IN UNIFORM. 



APPENDIX IV 



34i 



Gordon would discover, before departure, that he had been 
sent the worst troops. Sending back the four companies, he 
requisitioned four companies indicated by Fauzi, and, Fauzi 
being too young for a command, he appointed him com- 
mandant of his body-guard, and a sort of adjutant-major to 
the little force. 

Fauzi accompanied Gordon to the Albert Nyanza, returned 
with him to Khartoum, was gazetted major in consideration 
of his services, and appointed Mudir (Governor) of Bohr, 
but given two months' leave of absence before taking up his 
post. Gordon left for England, and Fauzi came to Cairo 
for his leave, on the expiration of which he set out for the 
Soudan, but, on reaching Berber, he found a telegram awaiting 
him from Gordon telling him not to go further than Khar- 
toum, as he (Gordon) was returning as Governor-General. 
When Gordon reached Khartoum, it was to hear that Darfur 
was in revolt, and that the Bahr-el-Ghazal province was 
joining the rebels. A council of war was held, when Gordon 
asked the officers present to select one of themselves to head 
an expedition to the Bahr-el-Ghazal province, while he took 
another into Darfur ; he had expected all of them to volunteer 
for the command, but they believed that such an expedition 
had more the elements of defeat and death in it than of glory 
and distinction. Told that they must name an officer, they 
named Fauzi, who was not present, and Gordon at once 
accepted him, sending him off with 4000 troops and the 
clerks for the civil administration. Fauzi succeeded in 
setting the province to rights without fighting, and while 
travelling about setting the administration right in the 
districts, he often met, and assisted with food and money, 
a holy man then living as a sort of hermit at Abba and the 
neighbourhood. The man's name was Mohammed Ahmed — 
whom the world was to hear of six years later as the Mahdi. 

Breaking down in health, Gordon ordered Fauzi to 
Khartoum, for rest, promoted him to the rank of full colonel, 
and named him Governor of Equatoria, in which province he 
spent about a year carrying out Gordon's instructions to the 



342 



APPENDICES 



letter, and making a host of enemies amongst the officials 
whose peculations and interest in the slave-trade he put a 
stop to. He accompanied Gordon to Cairo in 1879, and 
when Gordon decided upon resigning, he asked Fauzi whether 
he would prefer to remain in Cairo or return to the Soudan. 
Fauzi saw that, without Gordon to back him up, his tenure of 
office would be but of short duration, unless he engaged him- 
self in the maladministration of the provinces ; he elected to 
remain in Cairo, where, at Gordon's request, he was gazetted 
Colonel commanding the 1st Regiment of the 3rd Brigade. 
Gordon made it a point to be present at Fauzi's first parade, 
congratulated him on the handling of his men, and bidding 
him farewell, gave him three hundred pounds as a souvenir of 
their days together in the Soudan. At the outbreak of the 
Arabist rebellion, Fauzi's regiment, with others under the 
command of Kourschid Pasha, was ordered to Rosetta, and 
after the defeat of Arabi, at Tel-el-Kebir, he was, with other 
colonels, ordered to surrender to Sir Evelyn Wood at Kafr 
Dawar. Sent to Alexandria, he was tried, degraded, and then 
dismissed in disgrace. 

Some days before the arrival of Gordon, in 1884, H. E. 
Nubar Pasha and Sir Evelyn Wood sent for Fauzi, and told 
him to be in readiness to proceed to the Soudan, as Gordon 
had asked for his services. When Fauzi said that he had 
been dismissed, and was no longer on the army-list, Nubar 
Pasha replied, "General Gordon will see to the matter." 
It had not been Gordon's intention to call at Cairo, and 
Fauzi was to have gone to Suez or via the Nile, as Gordon 
might decide. However, Gordon was stopped at Port Said, 
and asked to come through Cairo ; Fauzi went to the station 
to meet him, and Gordon, on alighting, went up to his old 
Soudan lieutenant, and asked how it was that he was not in 
uniform. Fauzi detailed his dismissal, upon which Gordon 
turned to Sir Evelyn Wood, and asked him how it was. It 
appears that when Gordon saw Fauzi's name amongst the 
names of the colonels to be tried, he wired, or wrote — or both 
— to Sir Evelyn Wood, asking him to look after Colonel 



APPENDIX IV 



343 



Ibrahim Fauzi. General Wood did do so, but there was 
another Colonel Ibrahim Fauzi ; and while Gordon's Fauzi 
was dismissed in disgrace, the other Fauzi retired in glory 
and with a pension. 

Gordon had some difficulty in seeing Fauzi reinstated, for 
his enemies were powerful ; but, not to be thwarted, he took 
Fauzi direct to His Highness the Khedive, and carried his 
point. Two days later, Fauzi took his seat in the carriage 
with Gordon and Stewart, and left Bulac Dacroor station on 
that journey from which he only was to return alive, and that 
fourteen years later. 

On the way to Khartoum, Gordon named Stewart sub- 
Governor-General of the Soudan, and Fauzi Director of 
Military and Marine, and, in communicating these appoint- 
ments to Cairo, he wrote of Fauzi, " I especially recognize in 
Fauzi Bey the desired activity which he has displayed with 
me while previously in the Soudan ; he has already given 
proof of his abilities, and I am more than ever satisfied 
with him." 

Soon after his arrival at Khartoum, Fauzi was entrusted 
with the clearing out of the rebels from Khor Shambat and 
Halfeyeh, and the restoring of the telegraphic communi- 
cations which they had cut. Fauzi won his dual victory, and 
restored the line, but, in leading his men, he was hit in the 
right leg with a bullet fired from an elephant-gun, which split 
and shattered the bone. Owing to want of skill on the part 
of the Greek doctor, the broken bone was allowed to overlap, 
and a suppurating wound set in from the unextracted frag- 
ments, which kept Fauzi confined to his official residence for 
about six months, although he was able to transact the execu- 
tive part of his duties. On the departure of Stewart, Gordon 
named Fauzi Governor of Khartoum and Commandant of 
Troops, calling a special parade for the occasion. Fauzi Pasha 
must be left to relate, at some future date, the incidents of 
the siege of Khartoum ; I pass on to January 25, 1885. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon, Gordon called Fauzi 
to the roof of the palace, to see the activity taking place in 



344 



APPENDICES 



the dervish camp. He had a large tripod telescope fixed 
on the roof immediately over his room.* 

About 3.30, Fauzi, riding a donkey, accompanied Gordon 
on what proved to be his last visit to the lines. Most of 
the troops were lying down exhausted and hungry ; as 
they saw Gordon approach, they wished to present arms, but 
he kept calling out to them, " Rest, rest ; but keep your eyes 
open." At sunset they regained the palace, and walked up 
and down for some time discussing the situation. As the 
dinner-hour approached, Gordon told Fauzi that he was sorry 
he could not invite him to dinner, as he had nothing to eat. 
Fauzi said he had, for himself and guards, the hearts of four 
date trees, and would send one to the palace, upon which 
Gordon ran in and brought out his dinner — also the heart of 
a date tree. This was the last Fauzi was to see of Gordon. 

At midnight, Fauzi Pasha, as usual, went his rounds of the 
posts in the town, reaching his guards at about 2 a.m. While 
giving orders in the courtyard of his official residence, a sound 
as of shouts in the distance was heard. This was towards 
dawn. Fauzi went to the roof, and, through his binoculars, 
could faintly make out hand-to-hand fighting going on in the 
lines. Hurrying down, he drew up his men, and set off for 
the palace, being joined by ten Greeks who had been on 
duty. On coming in sight of the palace, they were met by 
two bands of dervishes, but succeeded in cutting their way 
through one, only to be met by a troop of dervish horse. 
The little party was forced back, fighting every step, and 
when close to his house all rushed inside, closed the doors, 
and commenced to fight through the windows, but for every 
shot they fired, a score came back in reply. The little 
garrison assembled in the courtyard for a last stand as the 
dervishes were then beating down the doors. Fortunately, 
the sight of other dervishes rushing past with loot drew the 

* It has been repeatedly stated that Gordon had a gun on the roof of the palace, with which 
he used to shell the dervish camp. In one account of the fall of Khartoum, it is averred 
that Gordon, in his sleeping- suit, served this gun for an hour until it was rendered useless, as it 
could not be depressed sufficiently to bear upon the dervishes surrounding the palace. There 
never was a gun on the roof of the palace, for the roof would not have supported its dead weight, 
much less the shock of its recoil. 



APPENDIX IV 



345 



besiegers off on a similar errand, and the party was able to 
hold its own against successive parties until the Mahdi sent 
word to stop the massacre. When Fauzi was taken before 
the Mahdi, he was asked, " Why is it that you, a good Muslim, 
have never written to me when every one else has done so, 
expressing their loyalty? Have you forgotten the days at 
Abba, and the instruction I gave you ? If you have, I have 
not ; " and, kissing him, the Mahdi told him to " go in peace." 
The Mahdi was very wroth at the death of Gordon, for he 
really admired and respected him, and he had given strict 
orders that he was not to be harmed in any way. 

As, during his captivity, Fauzi used to receive moneys from 
Cairo, he had, to explain his being able to live, to engage in 
some occupation, and took to lime-burning, a business which 
cost him more than he ever got out of it. As an Egyptian, he 
was under the surveillance of Youssef Mansour, who, after the 
escape of Slatin, refused to be responsible for Fauzi any longer. 
Failing to get him executed for having assisted in Slatin's 
escape, he succeeded in getting him committed to the Saier, 
where he remained as a prisoner for four years, until released 
by the Sirdar. 



Appendix V 



AHMED YOUSSEF KANDEEL 

Ahmed Youssef Kandeel, though actually a civilian 
employe, held the rank in Khartoum, where he was born, of 
Lieutenant in the 3rd Soudan Artillery. He took part in 
many of the attacks on the dervishes during the siege, and 
fought with Bakhit Bey on the night the town was taken. 
He managed to fight his way to his house, and held out until 
the Mahdi's orders came to stop the massacre of the inhabi- 
tants, when he gave himself up. His father, uncle, and 
brother had already been killed fighting. For some time he 
supported himself at Omdurman by cutting firewood, living 
in a state of semi-starvation. Being a good clerk, he offered 
his services to Wad Nejoumi, who, it appears, would employ 
no one but old Egyptian employes as " katibs " (clerks). 
He was with Wad Nejoumi when I was taken prisoner to 
Dongoia, and throws an interesting light upon Nejoumi's 
attitude towards Mahdieh, which more than confirms the 
impressions I had formed, and which I have given expression 
to in Chapter VI. : " Dongoia to Omdurman." 

Kandeel tells me that, on the arrival of our party at 
Dongoia, Nejoumi called a meeting of emirs, and asked what 
should be done with us. All voted for instant execution, but 
this Nejoumi would not sanction. Among the emirs was a 
Taaishi wakil (spy or agent of Abduliahi) — a similar wakil 
being appointed to each army not actually led by one of 
the Khaleefa's relatives. This wakil's name was Messaad 
Geydoom-el-Taaishi. When Nejoumi insisted upon saving 




AHMED YOUSSEF KANDEEL. 



APPENDIX V 



347 



my life, and, as an alternative, sending me to the Khaleefa, 
leaving him to decide what should be done with me, he in- 
structed Kandeel to write a letter saying that, as I was a 
"hakeem" (doctor), I might be useful to him (Nejoumi) 
and also to the army. Geydoom, having his suspicions about 
Nejoumi's loyalty to Mahdieh, used his sparing of my life as 
a proof of his sympathies with the Government, and Nejoumi 
was ordered to Omdurman, and kept a prisoner in his house 
for some months. 

Geydoom's treatment of the army during Nejoumi's absence 
caused so much discontent that Abdullahi determined to send 
Nejoumi back to Dongola, but with strict instructions to at 
once commence the march for the conquest of Egypt. He 
was given a hundred and twenty rifles only, and very little 
ammunition. 

When General Grenfell sent the letter to Nejoumi, calling 
upon him to surrender, Nejoumi called a council of emirs, 
said that the army could not possibly fight, as they were 
tired, hungry, and thirsty, and suggested surrender, for they 
must either be killed upon the field or die in the desert on 
the way back. The emirs, being of the Taaishi family, first 
accused Nejoumi of cowardice and then of treachery. They 
threatened to report him to the Khaleefa when the fight was 
won, and to ask that one of themselves should be given the 
command when the further advance into Egypt was ordered. 
There appears to be but little doubt that, had it not been for 
the Taaishi emirs, the army would have followed Nejoumi 
unarmed to the lines of the Government troops. The emirs 
dictated the reply which Nejoumi was to send to General 
Grenfell, and when Nejoumi dashed down into the plain as 
the dervish army was in retreat, it was doubtless with the 
object of reaching the Government lines, but under pretence 
of rallying the few remaining troops, so that they should not 
shoot him down if they thought he was deserting them — or 
follow him if they thought he was charging, for this would 
have drawn the fire of the brigades upon them. After the 
death of Nejoumi, spies reported to the Khaleefa that he had 



348 



APPENDICES 



attempted to open up negotiations with the Government 
troops, and Kandeel, being suspected as Nejoumi's "katib," 
was loaded with chains and sent to Omdurman, where he was 
imprisoned for fourteen months, and then released to become 
the clerk of Yacoub, the brother of Abdullahi. 



Appendix VI 



THE SOUDAN: ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND 
FUTURE 

To the present generation the history of the Soudan may- 
be said to commence with the date of its partial conquest by 
Mohammad Ali Pasha, the Viceroy of Egypt. To go further 
back than this is to compile from various sources, all more or 
less inaccurate, a mass of information which, where not mis- 
leading, would be next to useless to the would-be correct 
historian. Even the recent history of the benighted country 
has from force of circumstances been compiled from sources 
not the most reliable, and it is extremely difficult for the 
moment to sift the facts from the legends. The Soudan is 
still an unknown and unconquered land. Small tribes have 
been magnified into nations, and petty chiefs and sheikhs into 
kings and sultans who evidenced their exalted position in the 
possession of a few more sheep, goats, donkeys, and slaves, 
than their neighbours. No single tribe or sheikh ever held 
general supremacy over the others ; Zubeir was within an ace 
of making himself the Sultan of the Soudan, when he accepted 
an invitation to visit Cairo ; that was twenty-five years ago, 
and he is still here. The Soudan was nothing more nor less 
than a collection of little commonwealths ; occasionally a 
number of these would acknowledge allegiance to one par- 
ticular headman, and, in such instances, the " nation " might 
have boasted almost as great a population as some small and 
obscure provincial town. But that such instances were rare 



35° 



APPENDICES 



is proved by the facility with which Mohammad Ahmed and 
Abdullahi set the various sections of tribes fighting among 
themselves. 

When Mohammad Ali established his government, and 
when later Ismail Pasha attempted to extend his empire, they 
each took advantage of the chronic anarchy reigning in the 
Soudan to further their schemes, but the tribes soon found 
that they had but stepped from the frying-pan into the fire, 
and waited patiently for the strong man who was to rid them 
of the thraldom of the now hated and detested Turks, from 
whom they had hoped so much. From the time when, what 
the Soudanese call the " Turk " rule, was established, until the 
rebellion of 1882, nothing whatever was done to develop 
the natural resources of the country — indeed, the reverse. The 
only trade the officials fostered was that of slaves, and these 
were invariably drawn from peaceful and agricultural districts ; 
the adult male population of whole districts was swept away 
in those raids organized to supply the hareems of Arabia, 
Algeria, Egypt, and Turkey, with eunuchs and concubines. 
The mineral wealth of Sennar, Darfur and Kordofan was 
neglected, as when the soldiers reached the gold, silver and 
copper mines, they discovered that the precious metals did 
not exist in the pure blocks they had expected to find, and 
that to extract the metals meant work. 

The population of the half-conquered provinces was robbed 
in every conceivable manner by tax-collectors, who were 
seldom or never paid their salaries of from twenty-five to 
thirty shillings a month, and they were assisted in the duties 
of tax collecting by companies of irregular soldiers whose 
salaries also were never paid. Where money was not forth- 
coming, the taxes were collected in kind, and it may be 
imagined what the result of tax collecting was. The people 
were driven farther and farther away from the cultivated 
lands and watercourses. The " Sudd," that rank growth of 
weeds which obstruct the navigation of the Nile and its 
tributaries, was left to accumulate year after year, the little 
clearances which the inhabitants themselves made formerly, 



APPENDIX VI 



35i 



being abandoned as they but aided the passage of boats con- 
veying soldiers on tax collecting or conquest of territory 
expeditions. 

Admitting, for the sake of argument, that some of the 
Soudan tribes may have risen to the dignity of independent 
kingdoms, their history may be written with one word — 
" anarchy," and when the " Turk " government was established, 
general rebellion was rife from the beginning until it culmi- 
nated in the rising of Mohammad Ahmed. 

The population of the Soudan was, and still is, divided into 
three great classes, (1) the pure Arab to whom manual labour 
has been unknown since the day his ancestor Ishmael mixed 
the mortar with which to cement the stones of the Kaaba or 
House of God, which Abraham built at Mecca ; (2) the 
Negroid, who will perform a few light duties, but who has 
absorbed all the worst to the exclusion of the few better 
qualities of his progenitors, — and, (3) the Black — naturally 
indolent and too lazy to work, — without ambition, and whose 
presumed avarice only extends to the possession of a little 
more than he can eat. For centuries the Black has been the 
slave of the Arab, and performed all the manual labour, such as 
the collection of gum and. senna leaves, indiarubber, ivory, the 
cultivation of cereals, and the navigation of the rivers ; but 
taking it all in all, the lot of the black slave might be envied 
by millions of workers in other parts of the world. With the 
introduction of the "Turk" government, all three classes were 
considered as " prey " ; the slave proper had to work harder 
so that his master might be able to satisfy the rapacity of his 
master — the official, and the slave knew this ; the negroid, 
who believed in cultivating only so much dourra as was 
requisite for his needs, found that he had to cultivate enough 
to feed the soldiers quartered in his province, and to pay 
taxes not only on what he grew for himself, but on what he 
grew for nothing for the soldiers. It is no wonder, then, that 
the three waited the coming of some strong man to rid them 
of the common enemy. 

Although a religious element was introduced into Moham- 



35 2 



APPENDICES 



mad Ahmed's movement, many fail to grasp the fact that 
religion here takes the place of politics in Europe, and when 
the Arabs rise against the powers that be, they are backed up 
by some " religious " question, for their laws are based entirely 
upon the Quoran. Mohammad Ahmed had for years been 
preaching against the extortions of the Turk officials, and had 
it not been suggested to him, it is unlikely that he would ever 
have assumed the role of Mahdi, though as a holy man only, 
it is almost certain that his crusade would have succeeded 
equally as well as it did. The country was ripe for rebellion, 
and when the followers of Mohammad Ahmed overcame the 
first " Turk " sent against him, and against whom he had been 
preaching for years, success was assured, and thousands 
flocked to him. His crusade, therefore, in the beginning, was 
not a religious movement pure and simple as we understand 
such ; it was the rising of an oppressed people against a 
government that had but lately tried to establish its authority 
over them. It is true that once having had the role of Mahdi 
forced upon him, Mohammad Ahmed did his best to act up to 
it ; his miracles — in the way of annihilating successive armies 
sent against him were very real indeed, and if thousands flocked 
to his banner in consequence of them, they should not be too 
severely criticized and charged with fanaticism and unreasoning 
superstition, for while they flocked to see the worker of these 
very real miracles, just as many thousands of people in more 
enlightened climes were making pilgrimages to caves, grottoes 
and shrines in the belief that the miracles they were praying 
for would be performed. Nor, considering that the faith in 
dreams and visions is almost as strong in the east as it was 
when Pharaoh had his dreams interpreted by Joseph, should 
Mohammad Ahmed and his successor be blamed for taking 
advantage of the credulity of the most credulous people on 
earth in the relating of visions, when but a little time since 
thousands of people in a highly civilized country were flocking 
to the doors of one who pretented to be the mouthpiece on 
earth of the angel Gabriel — a much more mythical being than 
either the prophet Mohammad or the Mahdi. 



APPENDIX VI 



353 



Had Mohammad Ahmed lived, there is no doubt but that 
he would have succeeded in establishing some form of govern- 
ment which, if not better, would certainly have been no worse 
than the one he had overturned. With the Mahdi's death, 
Abdullahi found himself with a trust which, as he saw immedi- 
ately, only a powerful military despotism could enable him to 
keep. Threatened with attack from all points of the compass, 
he had also internal dissensions to combat, and met them 
unflinchingly. While his atrocities have been made much 
of, he invariably went through the farce of trying people for 
disobedience during his reign of martial law before carrying 
out the capital sentence ; perhaps, if Abdullahi's atrocities 
were placed side by side with those associated with revolu- 
tions in other countries, his list would be found not the 
longest. Oppression doubtless was great, but it was concen- 
trated in one place, and being more seen, was as a conse- 
quence more felt. Still opinions may be said to be equally 
divided as to whether oppression was any greater during the 
worst days of the reign of Abdullahi than it had been under 
the old government. The foregoing is not written in defence of 
Mohammad Ahmed or Abdullahi — and I have little reason to 
say a single good word for the latter, but it is time that the 
Soudan should be seen through clear glasses. Jealousy of 
power was Abdullahi's besetting sin, and to this must be 
attributed the swift punishment meted out to those who in the 
slightest degree exhibited disobedience of orders. To this 
jealousy must be added vanity of his power also. I have 
heard since my release, from people of the Muslimanieh 
quarter, some of the reasons for Abdullahi's sparing of my 
life. I had forgotten the incident, but am reminded that 
when on my arrival at Omdurman I was taken to the gallows 
in chains to be hanged, I turned to the Emirs and shouted 
" Has your Mahdi (I used this name at the time) no other 
way of exhibiting his power but by hanging a bound man 
before all his soldiers ? Take off my chains, and I will fight 
you, or else get on with your work." Abdullahi was told this 
while I was still being played with, and said, " A man who will 

2 A 



354 



APPENDICES 



talk like that when he is going to be hanged is a man ! He is 
a big man ; I will not hang him ; a man who is not afraid of 
me is not to be hanged ; I will keep him." This was said to 
the Muslimanieh and others. Abdullahi had not made up his 
mind whether I was a merchant, spy, medicine man or general. 
Then, again, he kept me alive in order to prove that he was 
more powerful than my Malek (the Emperor of Germany). I 
am told that he very often said to people, " You have heard of 
Abdalla Nufell ; he is not afraid of me ; his Malek has 
millions of soldiers like him, but he dare not bring his armies 
to release him ; he is afraid to meet my ansar." 

There are other stories of Abdullahi's many references to 
me, but, as they are of a complimentary nature, I must leave 
others to relate them ; the above are only given for the 
purpose of affording a slight insight into the man's complex 
character, and to give an idea of the small actions which 
could influence him. 

The Past of the Soudan may be said to close with the 
battle of Omdurman ; the Present may be given in one word 
— Transition. Its Future is still in the future ; but from 
what I have written, those intending to make a rush to the 
Soudan as soon as it is declared open for trade, will under- 
stand that a settled government has yet to be established. 
The Soudan has had but one government, and I have given an 
idea of what that government was to the inhabitants ; the 
next government established will, as a matter of course, 
be looked askance at. Although the Khaleefa's army was 
smashed up at Omdurman, his influence still remains with 
great numbers, and time must be given for the Soudanese to 
learn that there are governments and governments. All they 
are conscious of now is, that the Government they turned out 
has come back again, and they expect from it no better treat- 
ment than they received formerly, if they do not expect worse 
as a punishment for their rebellion. The possession of slaves 
will be forbidden, and this will give umbrage to the Arabs, 
while the slaves will no more appreciate or enjoy their free- 
dom than would so many cage-bred birds theirs. There is a 



APPENDIX VI 



355 



considerable amount of ignorance in Europe on the subject of 
slavery in Mohammedan countries, but I must confine myself 
to the Soudan on this question. Slave raiding should of course 
be put down with a strong hand, and there should be, when a 
raider is captured, no other formality than that of loading 
the rifles or affixing the rope ; the trial might take place at 
some future date, so that the fact of his execution might be 
recorded. I wish to speak now only of those who are already 
called "slaves," for, in the majority of cases, it is but a name. 

I have remarked that the Black is naturally lazy, and will 
do no more work than he is compelled to ; if liberated uncon- 
ditionally, he will, unless drafted into regiments, loaf about, 
and occasionally do a little work for the sake of a meal ; but 
he will refuse to keep to any work long unless some sort of 
pressure is brought to bear, and he will be only too glad if it 
is. As a slave, his master must keep him in food and clothes, 
and also support his wife and children in return for his services, 
and, being ** property," he is well looked after ; he is, as I 
have said, a slave but in name, but the name has an ugly 
sound to Europeans. The new Government might open a 
slave register, have a few inspectors to go round and " ask 
for complaints," and either give an age, or name a date, when 
all holding of slaves would be a breach of a law yet to be 
made. Treaties are all very well when dealing with countries 
boasting a civilized Government, but it is not an easy matter 
to compel petty chieftains in the heart of Africa to agree 
to laws which upset the whole political economy of their 
domains — and this only to please people who know nothing of 
the existing conditions. However the whole question bristles 
with difficulties and with arguments for and against leaving 
matters as they are — only suppressing raiding as I have saia 
already — but as those difficulties do exist, it would be well not 
to be rash, or to burden the still unconquered and unsettled 
country with revolutionary laws. Far better to make haste 
slowly, for laws are of little use unless a breach of them 
is quickly punished, and the Soudan Arabs have yet to be 
taught to respect laws emanating from a " Government." 



356 



APPENDICES 



These few remarks on the unsettled state of the country are 
intended for those who may be going out as entire strangers 
to the Soudan. They must be prepared to meet with difficulties 
great and small, disappointments, much discomfort, and many 
annoyances big and little ; but it is to be hoped that they 
will endure these for a time, and not pester the little and still 
half-formed new administration with big complaints about 
petty quarrels or troubles. Any reprisals asked for in case 
of small annoyances or unpleasantnesses, can but bring in 
their train much bigger ones ; you want but to earn the respect 
of both Arab and Soudanese to earn his devotion, and you 
may have both by at least treating him as a man and not as 
a beast. When speaking of my having borrowed money from 
the guides whom I entrusted with the arrangements I made 
for my escape, I drew attention to the strange fact of my 
borrowing money from them. This was putting the principle 
I have pointed out into practice ; I required their aid. I 
went further, and gave evidence that I was entirely in their 
hands — a weakling, but they understood that if they helped 
me in my weakness, I would help or protect them in my 
strength ; above all, they valued my trust and confidence. 
There are limits, I know, to both, but you must learn those 
limits. 

The great want of the Soudan at the present time is means 
of communication ; there are enormous tracts of land on which 
cereals can be raised with the minimum of cost and labour, 
but without means of transport they might as well not 
exist. Some talk has been made of a line of rail connecting 
Khartoum with the Red Sea, and this, certainly, would provide 
the means of transport and enable the Soudan to compete 
with almost any other country in cereals, but it is a question 
whether it would be worth while to construct a railway for 
the sake of the grain trade, if the trucks which take it to the 
seaboard have to be hauled back empty, and, maybe, left idle 
for the greater part of the year. It is possible that during 
the last fifteen years Nature has to a great extent repaired 
the enormous damage done to indiarubber and gum trees 



APPENDIX VI 



357 



when the plants and trees were destroyed in order to obtain 
a big enough crop to satisfy the rapacity of the " Turk " 
officials. The forests abound in ebony and other hard 
woods, but power to saw them into beams or planks of 
suitable dimensions for transit is requisite before this valuable 
industry can be developed. From what prisoners from the 
south told me, in places an almost pure iron is found on 
or near the surface ; this the Shilluks and Dinkas smelt in 
mud furnaces about six to eight feet high and three to four 
feet in diameter. The spear heads of the Shilluks and 
Dinkas, beside their shape being different from all others, are 
readily distinguishable from their peculiarly deep black shade, 
while the spear heads made from imported iron are many 
shades lighter, and in comparison, when polished, have a 
tinny appearance. If coal is found, and I believe it will be, 
if the description I was given of "black stones" which took 
fire is correct, then one might say that there is no limit to 
the development of the country. Should the Nile and its 
tributaries be cleared of the "sudd," considerable develop- 
ment would be immediately possible, but the whole country 
must first be studied, and its present condition with its exist- 
ing means of transport thoroughly grasped, before people will 
be justified in subscribing for big ventures, for the failure of 
one means the failure of others, and a retarding, for want of 
new capital, of present possibilities in the way of development. 

It is quite impossible to compile any statistics of the former 
import and export trade of the Soudan, that is to say reliable 
statistics, and as the whole trade of the country was governed 
by the slave trade — now abolished — a new condition of things 
has been introduced but not yet established. Barter must, 
for some time to come, be the medium of trade and exchange, 
and, here again, new conditions are certain to be met with. 
Formerly the principal imports were cheap cotton goods, 
earthenware, ironware, dried and preserved provisions, sugar, 
perfumes, and such like, which generally came in the category 
of things which are " cheap and nasty." There are two 
great reasons why all this must now be changed ; with almost 



358 APPENDICES 

20,000 regularly paid troops in the country, and troops, too, 
who have, in a measure, been living in the lap of luxury, 
since 1882, their demands must be met. The sight of well-fed, 
well-housed, and well-clothed troops, will excite the admira- 
tion and cupidity of the Soudanese for similar luxuries, and a 
demand for articles formerly unknown to them will at once be 
created. I hesitate to specify some of the goods which I 
know there will be a demand for, not that I am in any way 
interested in the subject for the moment, but only to guard 
against numbers of people exporting large quantities of 
merchandise of the same class far in excess of the actual 
demand. I cannot too strongly advise manufacturers to 
study on the spot the requirements of the people, and to 
comply with their requirements, whatever the article might 
be. Disappointment and loss can only ensue if articles 
they do not want, or which do not meet with their require- 
ments, are attempted to be forced upon them, for while 
engaged upon this suicidal policy, some one else will certainly 
be studying the question with the intention of meeting the 
wishes of his prospective customers. I would strongly depre- 
cate the formation of big syndicates and companies for the 
exploitation of the Soudan ; the country, granted certain 
facilities for transport, has a great future, but it would be very 
unwise to lock up large capitals, the greater part of which 
would be lying unused. Small companies, with all the capital 
employed, will pay best for the time being, and the pioneers 
of such companies might be accompanied by a mineralogist, 
to examine the gold, silver, copper, lead, and other mineral 
deposits. That gold exists is well known, but the richness of 
the quartz I cannot speak of; one thing, though, is certain, 
gold can be obtained with little or no difficulty and labour, 
otherwise the small bags of gold I saw at Khartoum and 
Omdurman would not have been brought in. Lead and 
copper will be found to the west and south-west of Darfur — 
and possibly silver also, but whether it would pay to work 
the mines can only be ascertained after an examination of 
the districts. 



APPENDIX VI 



359 



To sum up. The Soudan is a country which for nearly 
a century has been righting against the establishment of any 
foreign government ; its experience of a " benevolent " admin- 
istration is of the very worst ; the inhabitants sank all or 
nearly all differences between them when they rose to turn 
out the hated Turks ; their experience of Christians has 
evidently not been of the best, else why the saying concern- 
ing Gordon ? Large numbers are still loyal to the Khaleefa 
Abdullahi, and it will require but a very little mistake 
to make the inhabitants flock to his banner, or, what is 
worse, they will retire to the west and leave the country 
denuded of the population it stands in so much need of. 
Strangers are not wanted — they will be looked upon with 
suspicion until they have given evidence of their honest 
intentions towards the villagers ; traders, before they may 
look for success, must overcome the prejudice of the people 
against European traders, a prejudice based upon experience 
of them formerly. And it is necessary for me to say that, after 
recent experience, it will take some time before the Muslim 
will believe that the Christian religion is anything but what 
he believes it to be, and he will be convinced that the boasted 
superiority of the European over the Arab does not hold good 
in the Soudan at all events. If those going to the Soudan 
will bear these points in mind, they will save themselves 
and others an infinity of trouble, and all barriers will be 
surmounted, if they keep in mind always the reputation 
Gordon made for himself for "Goodness and Justice," and 
make Goodness and Justice their motto. 



IND 



EX 



A 

Abbas, 246 
Abbas, The, 325-328 
Abdalla Rouchdi, 232, 333-336 
Abdallah Sulieman, 236, 331 
Abd el Kader Bey, 161, 189 
Abd es Semmieh, 181, 209, 234 
Abou-el-Gassim, 276 
Abou Hamad, 232, 248 
Abyssinian embassy, 246 
Abyssinian expedition, 155, 221 
Adultery, punishment of, 136, 137 
Ahmed Abdel Maajid, 86, 121 
Ahmed Youssef Kandeel, 346-348 
Aid to wounded, 286-288 
Ajjab Abou Jinn, 84, 102, 121 
Ali Khaater, 180-182, 209 
Alti, 182 

Ansar, the, 42, 60,97, 100-102, 130, 
354 

Arab tribes — 

Ababdeh, 9, 153 

Alighat, 10, 23, 30, 31, 50, 60 

Baggara, 212, 217, 230,264-269, 

276, 277, 281-283 
Bedawi, 40, 55 
Dabaanieh, 83 
Danagli, 48 

Dar Hamad, 8, 13, 54, 55 
Digheem, 276 
Dinkas, 357 
Fellati, 171, 176, 209 
Gawaamah, 98, 139, 188 
Habbanieh, 276 
Hadendowas, 88, 89 
Hammadah, 84 
Jaalin, 37, 59, 231, 244, 260, 266 
Kabbabish, 2, 5, 8, 11. 22, 53, 
54, 105, 167 



Arab tribes — 

Rhizaghat, 276 
Shilluks, 357 
Shukrieh, 84 

Taaishi, 264, 267, 276, 346 
Ardagh, Colonel, 5 
Arsenal, 89, 178, 212, 226, 237-239 
Assouan, 4-8, 52, 65, 77, 160-162 
Atbara, battle of, 248, 249, 271 
Austrian Consulate-general, 164, 

168, 314 
Austrian mission, 164, 233, 309 
Awad el Kerim, 84 ; his three sons, 

85 

Awwad el Mardi, 226-239, 242, 244 



B 

Bakah Wells, 53 

Bakhita, 240 

Beit-el-Amana, 264, 273 

Beit-el-Mal (Treasury), 3, 33, 34, 36, 
51, 85, 87, 100, 125, 155, 157,171, 
174, 179, 206, 210, 214, 241, 276 ; 
Amin or Director of, 46, 49, 64, 
145, 147, 175, 210, 226, 234 

Berber, 86, 155, 165, 193, 198, 237, 
309 

Blackmail (see Nebbi Khiddr) 
Black population of Soudan, 351, 
355 

Burleigh, Bennet, 244, 279 
Bussati Bey, 326 



C 

Cairo, start from, 2-7 ; return to, 1 

I 290 



362 



INDEX 



Caravan, constitution of, 4, 8, 11, 
12; betrayal of, 2, 3, 21,22,60, 61, 
68, 106, 167, 168 

Catarina, 114, 116 

Coinage, 171, 210-215, 223 

Cromer, Lord, 247 

D 

Dara, 310 

Darfur, 181, 203, 350, 358 

Derawi, 7-10, 245, 329 

Dervishes, horsemanship of, 41, 44, 

49 ; treachery of, 285, 288 
Desert routes, 12, 15-23 
Divorce laws, 123, 180, 190-192 
Dongola, 10, 39-43, 54, 59, 66, 67, 

328, 329 ; capture of, 232, 248, 

249, 346 

E 

Earle, General, 3 

Egyptian War Office (Intelligence 
Department), 105, 167, 168, 197, 
291, 295, 298 

El Agia, 15, 16, 19-22 

El Etroun, 15, 23 

El Fasher, 203, 311 

El Fun, 143, 144 

El Kiyeh, 15, 22, 23 

El Obeid, 10, 220 

Elias, clerk to Neufeld, 8, 12, 14, 

24-29, 35, 36, 43, 5o, 66 
Elias Pasha, 4 
Emirs — 

Abd-el-Baagi, 257, 261, 264 

Ahmed Fedeel, 176, 243 

Ali Wad Saad, 91 

Makin en Nur, 37, 59 

Mohammed Hamad 'na Allah, 
176-179, 186 

Mohammed Hamza, 27, 37-40, 

43, 44, 59 
Mohammed Taher, 88 
Nur Angara, 70, 76 
Wad Bessir, 59, 121 
Wad en Nejoumi, 27-34, 39, 

46-59, 64-67, 78, 118, 132, 

139, 155, 337, 346-343 
Wad Eysawee, 59 
Wad Farag, 27-35, 44, 59~6i, 

173, 174 



Emirs — 

Wad Umma, 59 

Yacoub, 148, 175, 176, 186, 216, 

221, 235, 242, 249, 257, 263, 

267, 271, 273, 348 

F 

Famine, 112, 116-119, 147 
Fettering, method of, 72, 79, 80, 91, 

93, 229, 235, 279 
Fitton, Major, 261 
Flogging, 41-43, 126, 127, 129-132 
Forts, 239, 243, 244, 254, 266 

G 

Gebel Ain, 8, 15 
Gebel Ragaf, nr, 220 
Gebel Roiyan, 68 

German Consulate, 154, 160, 162- 

165, 168, 291 
Germany, Emperor of, 354 
Gordon, 68, 89, 212, 218, 228, 300- 

324, 325-328^ 332-337, 340-345 ; 

relief expedition, 3, 65, 132, 229, 
247, 316-321 
" Gordonizing," 159 
Grenfell, General, 347 
Guides — 

Abdallah, 197-201, 214 

Ali el Amin, 8, 12, 17-24, 31, 

36, 49, 60, 67 
Darb es Safai, 21-29, 49, 5° 
Hassan, 12-24, 3°, 5°, 60-62, 
67 

Hassib el Gabou, 8-16, 22, 48, 
52-58, 64, 106, 107, 255 

Hawanein, 196, 201, 207, 214 

Ismail, 11-26, 57, 61 

Mohammad Ali, 153, 154, 156, 
163 

Moussa Daoud Kanaga, 54, 

154, 156, 163-166 
Onoor Issa, 223, 226, 233, 239- 

244,254 
Zecki, 220 
Gunboats, 240, 250-256, 257, 265, 

270, 290, 326 
Gunpowder manufacture, 175-182, 
209, 224, 232-241, 289, 296 



INDEX 



363 



H 

Halfeyeh, 176-178, 198, 261, 265, 
270 

Hamad Wad el Malek, 246 
Hamaida, 234, 237 
Hanafi, no, 151 

Hassan Bey Hassanein, 325-331 
Hassan Hosny, 181, 209, 234 
Hassan Zecki, 174, 177, 232 
Hasseena, 4, 8-12, 25-29, 32-36, 
40-46, 50-52, 68, 72, 81, 102, 103, 
108, 109, 118, 135, 185-194, 195 
Hassib Allah, 59, 60 
Hicks Pasha, 88, 101, 178, 309, 310, 
313, 326 

Hogal Dufa'allah, 4-14, 54, 58, 62, 

78, 245, 255 
Hunter, General, 293 
Hussein Pasha Khaleefa, 308, 309 



I 

Ibrahim Pasha Fauzi, 167, 208, 218, 
224, 244, 260, 263, 266, 277, 303, 
332, 34o-345 

Ibrahim Wad Adlan, 121, 143, 145— 
159, 165, 166, 170, 216 

Ibrahim Wad Hamza, 246, 260 

Ismail Pasha Ayoub, 340, 350 

J 

J inns (spirits), 170-174 
Joseppi, 141, 156, 157, 179, 200 



K 

Kadis Hassein Wad Zarah, 222 

Ahmed 221 
Kassala, 181 

Kerreri, 248, 258, 260, 274 

Khaleefa, Abdullahi— 

His cruelty, 69, 73-75, 
84, 85, no, 353 ; his 
superstition, 99, 103, 
120, 249, 257, 263, 
267 ; respect for Neu- 
feld, 132, 143, 204, 



Khaleefa, Abdullahi — 

230, 353 5 objection 
to traders, 149, 155 ; 
encouragement of 
marriage, 123, 139, 
186-189, 224; rela- 
tions with Slatin, 
204-208 ; his flight, 
274-277 ; opposition 
to him among Mah- 
dists, 66,85, 146-148, 
245-247, 254-256, 

305, 345, 346 
Ali Wad Helu, 44, 264, 

273 

Shereef, 146, 264, 273 
Khaleel Agha Orphali, 303, 332-337 
Khaleel Hassanein, 89, 98, 178, 

182, 212, 216, 235, 242, 249, 252 
Khartoum, 29, 47, 83, 89, 175, 178, 

181, 212, 218, 228, 266, 284, 303, 

309, 3io 
Khedive, 247 

Kirbekan, battle of, 3, 89, 286 
Kordofan, 2, 4, 7, 61, 146, 289, 310, 

35o 
Korosko, 65 

L 

Lupton, 295, 313 



M 

Macdonald, Colonel, 271, 274 
Mahdi, 3, 66, 69, 78, 86, 98, 103, 

273, 309-318, 330, 34i, 345, 351- 

353 

Mahdieh, 70, 85, 88, 99, 101, no, 
145, 205, 257, 260, 262, 273 

Mahdi's Ratib, 94, 271 

Mahdi's Tomb, 44, 70, 151, 155-157, 
267 

" Mahdism," 300 
Makkieh, 141, 178, 185, 192 
Mankarious Effendi, 77, 152-154, 
160, 195 

Marriage customs, 86, 1 21-123, 126, 

135-138, 189 
Maxwell, Colonel, 281 
Mecklenburg, Duke of, 291 



3^4 



INDEX 



Mehkemmeh, the, 105, no, 163 
Metemmeh, 68, 247 
Mihrab, 267 
Mimbar, 267 

Mohammad AH Pasha, 349, 350 
Mohammad Effendi Rafai, 167 
Moller, 68, 153, 154, 160 
Moxley, Hewett, 298 



N 

Nahoum Abbajee, 114, 186, 188- 
190, 209, 226-232, 323 

Nebbi Khiddr, 101-104, H2, 113, 
120, 128, 173, 216 

Negroid population, 351 

Neufeld— 

Official accounts, 1-4, 53, 61, 
68, 167 ; newspaper ac- 
counts, 1, 79, 134, 166, 169, 
291-299 ; as trader, 3, 9, 
10, 46, 47, 76, 105, 149, 168 ; 
as Government spy, 37, 46, 
47, 53, 145, 156, 239 ; letters 
to his manager and Man- 
karious, 77, 152-154, 160- 
165, 199 ; letter to General 
Stephenson, 294, 338, 339; 
named Abdallah, 77, 91, 102, 
151, 269 ; interview with the 
Khaleefa, 76, 79, 90, 92 ; 
practises medicine, 106, 124, 
130, 175, 197, 224, 240, 250, 
272 ; plans to escape, 107, 
143, 152-157, 160-169, J 98- 
201, 227, 293 ; floggings, 
127, 131 ; relations with 
Hasseena, 4, 10, 40, 108, 
109, 118, 135-139, 185-194, 
290 ; conversion, 132, 150, 
167, 205, 224 ; not a German 
subject, 162, 293 ; native 
wives, 139, 167, 186-189 ; 
English wife, 4, 163, 166- 
169, 194, 289 ; furnishes 
information to Government, 
239, 243-245, 254, 261, 289 ; 
employed under the Kha- 
leefa [see Coinage, Arsenal, 
and Gunpowder, Manufac- 
ture); Offers from publishers. 



291, 299 ; reception in Cairo, 
290-299 ; relations with Gor- 
don, 3, 132, 228, 305 ; views 
on missionaries, 321-323 ; 
views on trade, 356-359 

Newnes, Sir George, 299 

Nubar Pasha, 342 

O 

Ohrwalder, 6, 114-116, 119, 182, 
187, 223 ; his escape, 183, 280, 
295 ; his book, " Ten Years' 
Captivity," 300, 306-323 ; criti- 
cisms of Gordon, 306-323, 325 

Ombeyehs (war-trumpets), 72, 73, 
76, 158, 257, 275, 277 

Omdurman, 1-3, 54, 62-65, 67, 69, 
71 ; battle of, 44, 258, 265-277, 
281, 326, 354 ; looting of, 28 r 

Osman Digna, 243, 248, 254, 264 

Osta Abdallah, 224, 235-239, 24 2 
249, 252 

P 

Perdikaki, 1 77-1 81 

Pink, Colonel, 274 

Prison (Saier) — 

Horrors of, 2, 81,93-96, 116- 
119, 218 ; Idris es Saier, 82, 
91, 98-105, 112, 121, 127, 

130, 135, 138, 158, I7I-I74, 
216, 262, 266, 272, 277, 278 ; 
the Umm Hagar, 94, 95, 
106, 113, 128, 218, 262, 266, 
269 ; the Bint Umm Hagar, 
221 ; escape from, 96, 107, 
120-123; food, 112, 113, 
1 1 6— 1 1 9, 143; subordinate 
gaolers, 123, 127-129, 173, 
174, 262 ; • women's prison, 
125, 126 

R 

Rossignoli, 132, 134, 197-201, 205 
S 

Sabalooka, 243, 249, 257 
Said Abdel Wohatt, 175, 178-182, 
209 



INDEX 



365 



Said Gumaa, 91, 203 

Selima Wells, 11-15, 19-23, 59, 78 

Sennar, 84, 350 

Shayba (yoke), 38, 219 

Sheiks — 

Ahmed Nur ed Din, 54, 105- 
109, in, 127 

Ed Din, 130, 233, 264, 271, 

273, 274 
Hamad El Nil, 85, 102, 103 
Mahmoud Wad Said, 83, 90, 

118, 121, 247 
Saleh Bey Wad Salem, 2-6, 11- 
22, 28, 31, 46-49, 55-57, 6i, 
• 68, 77, 105 
Shereef Hamadan, 201, 216, 231- 
233 

Shwybo, 1 71-174, 228 

Sirdar, 225, 228, 262, 271, 276-279, 
290, 321,345 ; rumours concern- 
ing, 97, 155, 232, 233,259; ad- 
vance of, 240, 245, 247 ; charges 
against, 284, 286 

Sirri, 230, 233,251, 326 

Slatin, 6, 70, 71, 76, 79, 91, 1 10, 280; 
his escape, 87, 201-207, 214, 220, 
223, 295, 315, 345 ; kindness to 
Neufeld, 119 ; Austrian Consul's 
letter, 164 ; his letter to the 
Khaleefa, 202, 295 ; position with 
the Khaleefa, 204; conversion, 
205 ; his wives, 206 ; reception 
at Cairo, 295, 308 ; his book, 
" Fire and Sword," 300 ; rela- 
tions with Said Bey Gumaa, 203, 
310 

Slave Trade, 350, 354 

Soudan, future of, 322, 323, 349"359 

Spies — 

Government, 62, 106, 150, 158, 

244,250, 255,256, 261, 305 
Mahdist, 62, 65, 66, 82, 97, 
150, 244,259, 305, 346 
Stanley, Emin, expedition of, 139 
Stephenson, General, 2-6, 47, 48, 
56, 76, 145, 261, 294, 338 



Stewart, Colonel, 324, 325-33°, 343 
Sulieman Haroun, 153 
Surghani hill, 273 



T 

Toki, battle of, 139, 156 
Torpedoes, 243, 249, 251-256, 280 
Tuti island, 228, 243, 265 
Typhus fever, 108 



U 

Umm es Shole, 188-190, 193, 198, 
217, 222, 224, 239, 242 



W 

Wadi El Kab, 8, 15, 19, 22, 23, 33, 

56-60, 67 
Wadi Haifa, 5-13, 30, 31,42,48- 

51, 57, 61,65, 7i, 77, 89, 141, 280 
Wakih Idris, 3, 135 
Wass, Count, 164 
Wilson, Sir Charles, 69 
Wingate, Major, 223 
Wood, Sir Evelyn, 342 
Worrak, 245, 261 



Y 

Youssef Jebaalee, 114, 116 
Youssef Mansour, 205, 220, 244, 

250, 252, 256 
Yunis, 264, 274 

Z 

Zecki Tummal, 221 
Zobheir Pasha, 176, 202 
Zoghal, 203, 310 
Zubeir, 349 



THE END 



PRINTED BV 
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
LONDON AND BECCLES. 



I 



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